iHE   CAREhR 
OF  THE  CHILD 


MAXIMILIAN  P.  E.GROSZMANN 


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Form  L-9-5w-5,'24 


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in  2007  with  funding  from 

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http://www.archive.org/details/careerofchildOOgrosiala 


The 

Career  of  the  Child 

MAXIMILIAN  p.  E.  GROSZMANN,  Pd.  D. 

Author  of  "Some  Fundamental   Verities  in  Education" 


X/7  3i' 


RICHARD  G.  BADGER 

THE  GORHAM  PRESS 
BOSTON 


Copyright,  1911,  by  Richard  6.  Badger 


All  Rights  Reserved 


The  gorham  Press,  Boston,  U.  S.  A. 


Education 
Library 

INTRODUCTION 

THE  subject  of  pedagogy  is  making  rapid  strides. 
A  body  of  scientific  principles  is  rapidly  being 
collected  from  the  sciences  of  biology,  psychol- 
ogy, anthropology,  and  sociology,  all  of  which 
must  be  considered  in  the  composite,  applied  science  of  edu- 
cation. One  of  the  keenest,  most  patient  and  far-sighted 
workers  in  this  applied  science  is  Dr.  Groszmann,  author 
of  the  present  volume.  He  has  devoted  many  years  to  care- 
ful observation  and  experimentation  in  schools  for  both  nor- 
mal and  abnormal  children.  This  work  has  been  supple- 
mented by  a  careful  testing  of  results  in  a  practical  way. 

The  long  experience  of  Dr.  Groszmann  in  the  Ethical 
Culture  School  of  New  York  City,  and  his  more  recent  ex- 
perience at  Watchung  Crest  in  dealing  with  atypical  and 
subnormal  children,  added  to  his  thorough  and  critical 
scholarship  of  the  German  type,  has  fitted  him  admirably 
for  a  discussion  of  the  curriculum  and  of  scientific  methods 
in  education. 

In  making  a  curriculum  it  is  frequently  assumed  that  the 
selection  of  subjects  and  the  amount  of  time  given  to  each 
subject  can  be  determined  without  any  reference  to  the  chil- 
dren to  be  taught  or  the  ultimate  aim  of  education.  Tradi- 
tion has  been  the  dominant  factor  determining  both  the 
matter  and  the  method  in  education. 

Dr.  Groszmann  has  made  a  careful  analysis  of  the  aims 

3 


4  INTRODUCTION 

of  education;  of  physical,  mental,  and  moral  stages  of  growth 
and  the  best  conditions  under  which  this  growth  can  be  pro- 
moted and  the  aims  of  education  attained.  The  subject  mat- 
ter is  then  analyzed  to  see  in  what  way  it  may  be  made  to 
contribute  to  the  ideal  development.  But  as  the  experiences 
of  a  normal  individual  are  complex  and  varied  it  is  neces- 
sary that  unity  of  life  and  development  be  brought  out  of 
disparity  of  experiences,  oftentimes  apparently  conflicting. 
This  problem  of  co-ordination  is  an  important  factor  in  Dr. 
Groszmann's  treatment. 

In  addition  to  the  German  idea  of  the  spiral  arrangement 
of  studies,  Dr.  Groszmann  has  emphasized  the  idea  that  no 
true  center  of  correlation  can  be  found  in  the  subjects  them- 
selves. At  best  such  correlations  must  be  artificial  and  un- 
psychological.  The  true  center  of  correlation  is  the  child 
himself.  By  this  plan  it  is  possible  to  follow  the  child's  in- 
terests— and  needs — and  to  emphasize  things  important  for 
the  particular  child  or  group,  and  to  "eliminate  what  is  un- 
essential, useless,  and  consequently  burdensome."  Dr. 
Groszmann  has  shown  how  the  various  activities  should  not 
properly  be  called  subjects,  but  that  there  are  the  play  ac- 
tivities, manual  activities,  and  the  various  kinds  of  interests 
which  demand  varieties  of  knowledge  which  we  conveniently 
systematize  into  subjects  such  as  geography,  arithmetic,  his- 
tory, etc.  While  he  does  not  advocate  making  these  sub- 
jects incidental,  they  should  grow  out  of  the  interests  of  the 
child  and  the  problems  which  he  must  feel  to  be  real  prob- 
lems. 


INTRODUCTION  5 

The  first  phase  of  pedagogy  to  receive  discussion  was 
that  of  methods.  Many  volumes  have  been  written  upon  the 
subject  of  general  and  special  methods,  but  upon  no  branch 
of  pedagogical  icnowledge  has  the  influence  of  scientific  prin- 
ciples been  so  little  felt.  A  great  part  of  all  that  has  been 
written  down  to  the  present  time  has  been  either  from  the 
purely  logical  point  of  view  or  has  consisted  of  trite  discus- 
sions by  pedagogical  theorists.  In  the  present  book,  the  au- 
thor has  made  a  long  step  in  advance  in  the  direction  of 
working  out  methods  from  the  standpoint  of  the  science  of 
education. 

Method  should  be  determined  by  the  laws  of  development 
of  the  child  instead  of  by  pure  logic  and  the  subject  matter 
itself.  Method  means  not  only  a  logical  arrangement  of  the 
materials  in  a  given  subject  of  instruction,  but  also  the  ques- 
tion of  its  adaptation  to  nascent  growth  periods  of  the  child 
and  his  interests  as  determined  by  native  instincts  and  en- 
vironment. Even  in  teaching  mathematics  the  laws  of 
growth  and  development  of  the  child  must  be  considered.  In 
recent  years  the  order  of  topics  in  mathematics  has  been  very 
materially  changed  to  harmonize  with  the  well  established 
laws  of  growth.  Dr.  Groszmann  has  pointed  out  the  fact 
that  not  only  chronological  growth  and  physiological  growth, 
but  also  psychological  growth  periods  must  be  observed. 

While  the  teacher  of  the  various  subjects  which  are  treated 
in  this  volume  will  find  little  or  nothing  of  prescription  in 
the  way  of  a  definite  curriculum  to  be  followed  day  by  day, 
the  fundamental  principles  which  determine  what  a  child 


6  INTRODUCTION 

can  be  taught  and  the  relations  between  the  given  subject 
and  other  subjects  are  thoroughly  established. 

It  would  mean  much  if  every  teacher  from  the  kinder- 
garten through  the  university  could  be  well  grounded  in 
the  fundamental  principles  of  biology,  anthropology,  psy- 
chology, and  sociology,  and  could  then  under  guidance  of  a 
master  study  the  great  educational  problems  in  the  light  of 
all  the  foregoing  contributory  sciences.  This  should  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  careful  study  of  the  special  method  in  the  par- 
ticular subject  to  be  taught.  Adequate  knowledge  of  the 
subject  itself  is,  of  course,  presupposed.  The  present  vol- 
ume points  in  the  direction  which  subsequent  writers  on 
education  will  find  it  profitable  to  travel. 

Frederick  E.  Bolton, 
,     State   University  of  Iowa. 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 

Introduction   3 

/     Dignity  and  Responsibility  of  the   Teacher  s 

Profession    9 

//     The  Significance  of  the  Kindergarten  and  Its 

-^  Rational  Development   24 

///     The  Principle  of  Co-ordination  of  Studies. .     45 

^^^Jff^     The  Physical  Side  of  Education 66 

y     A  Rational  Course  of  Study 78 

VI     The  Manual  Principle 102 

VII     Kinds  of  Manual  Expression 114 

VIII     The  Mathematical  Evolution  of  the  Child..    130 

IX     Geography  as  a  Collective  Center 148 

X    History  as  a  Collective  Center 157 

XI     Nature  Work  as  an  Objective  Basis 170 

XII     Language    Teaching    180 

XIII  Reading  and  Literature 209 

XIV  Oral  and  Written  Composition 227 

XV     Grading   and    Promotion 242    /\ 

XVI     Hygienic   Suggestions    2^5  g^ 

XVII     Problems  of  Discipline 269 

XVIII     The  Treatment  of  Defectives 282 

XIX     Criminality  in  Children 298 

y  A — As  to  Causes. 

B — As  to  Redemies. 
XX     The  Meaning  of  High  School  Education  and 

Secondary  Differentiations   322 


The  Career  of  the  Child 


CHAPTER  I 

2.1  7  3  S' 

Dignity  and  Responsibility  of  the  Teacher  s  Profession 

BEFORE  the  life  of  man  had  assumed  the  diflFer- 
entiated  character  which  resulted  from  the  division 
of  labor,  the  functions  which  now  are  singly 
assigned  to  different  individuals  were  more  or  less 
collectively  represented  by  all.  In  patriarchal 
society,  every  head  of  a  family  was  his  own  provider,  and 
what  are  now  diverse  trades  were  pursued  as  the  common 
tasks  of  daily  life.  During  the  pioneer  period  of  our  own 
country,  similar  conditions  prevailed,  and  the  stately  matron 
of  by-gone  times  wove  and  finished  with  her  own  hand  the 
linen  and  cloth  from  which  she  would  make  her  lord's  and 
her  children's  as  well  as  her  own  garments ;  while  the  worthy 
husbandman  was  his  own  blacksmith,  shoemaker,  carpenter, 
and  what  not.  Of  course,  at  times  they  had,  like  Robinson 
in  the  story,  recourse  to  the  vast  stores  and  manufactures  of 
their  European  homes,  importations  from  there  having  been 
the  basis  of  their  pioneer  life  in  the  wilderness.  The  primi- 
tive family,  however,  had  no  opportunity  for  such  importa- 
tions— it  had  to  exist  upon  its  own  resources  exclusively ;  and 
the  knowledge  and  skill  requisite  for  the  various  perform- 
ances which  signaled  the  dawn  of  civilization,  were  handed 
down  from  father  to  son,  from  mother  to  daughter.  The 
parents  were  the  natural  teachers  of  the  young,  they  were 
the  centers  from  which  the  moral  influence  radiated,  the 
guardians  of  the  family  gods,  of  the  tribe's  religion  and 
honor. 

In  the  more  advanced  society  of  a  later  period,  we  find 


lo        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

indeed  the  family  organization  modeled  after  essentially  the 
same  plan;  but  the  wisdom  and  higher  knowledge  of  the 
tribe  and  incipient  nation  have  become  concentrated  in  a  sepa- 
rate class,  or  caste,  that  of  the  priesthood.  The  priests  are 
now  the  spiritual  guardians  of  the  people;  it  is  their  special 
function  to  commune  with  the  gods  and  to  mediate  between 
them  and  the  nation.  From  this  divine  intercourse,  by  their 
being  devoted  entirely  to  the  searching  into  the  mysteries  of 
nature  and  human  life,  they  obtain  a  knowledge  which  to  the 
uninitiated  appears  truly  magical  and  supernatural.  They 
are  not  only  priests,  but  philosophers,  poets,  astronomers, 
scientists,  physicians,  teachers;  all  the  learned  professions  as 
we  know  them,  were  represented  in  their  rudimentary,  un- 
differentiated form  by  this  caste  which  endowed  all  knowl- 
edge with  a  spiritual  significance — as  coming  from  the  gods 
whose  agents  they  were.  All  knowledge  was  then  a  divine 
revelation;  even  the  arts  of  husbandry,  of  metalworking, 
and  other  crafts,  were  ascribed  to  the  teachings  of  gods  who 
had  come  down  among  men  as  helpers  and  teachers.  Teach- 
ing was  a  sacred  profession,  then,  and  was  essentially  con- 
cerned in  spiritual  matters. 

"Tempora  mutantur  et  nos  mutamur  in  illis".  Times 
change,  and  we  change  in  time.  When  the  old  order  of 
things  gave  way  to  new  institutions ;  when  Greece  and  Rome 
became  masters  of  the  world,  and  in  their  turn  were  de- 
throned by  the  ascendency  of  the  Teutonic  tribes  which  hold 
sway  over  the  civilized  world  up  to  the  present  day : — science, 
religion  and  philosophy  became  more  and  more  democratized, 
and  gradually  accessible  to  the  masses  that  had  formerly  been 
kept  in  subjection  and  ignorance.  Teaching  was  now  a 
secular  profession.  But  the  struggle  between  the  guardians 
of  religion  and  the  promoters  of  secular  ideas  was  long  and 
fierce,  and  is  not  fought  to  the  end  yet.  Church  and  State 
are  still  at  war  over  the  same  issue,  i.  e.  to  whom  the  control 
of  popular  education  properly  belongs.  The  secular  view 
that  education,  at  least  as  far  as  school  training  is  concerned, 
means  merely  the  transmission  of  information,  the  imparting 
of  so-called  knowledge,  the  training  of  the  intelligence,  the 
drill  in  useful  occupations,  and  that  consequently  it  is  a  mat- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD         ii 

ter  entirely  separate  from  ethico-religious  considerations,  is 
certainly  a  very  shallow  conception.  Knowledge  and  skill  in 
themselves  are  neutral  possessions;  they  may  work  good  or 
evil  in  accordance  with  the  character  of  the  one  who  possesses 
them.  It  has  been  truly  said  that  it  requires  as  much  me- 
chanical genius  and  intelligence  to  pick  a  lock  as  to  construct 
its  intricate  mechanism ;  and  whether  your  boy  will  grow  up 
to  be  a  prophet  or  a  seducer,  will  depend  not  upon  what  he 
knows,  but  upon  his  spiritual  nature  which  will  convert  his 
knowledge  either  into  a  weapon  of  destruction  or  into  a 
means  of  inspiration.  Wisely  administered  intellectual  train- 
ing will  certainly  broaden  a  man's  mind  and  make  him  ca- 
pable of  ^preciating  the  relations  which  exist  in  the  human 
life  and  in  the  life  of  nature;  he  will  thus  be  helped  to  dis- 
criminate better  between  right  and  wrong  and  to  choose  more 
wisely  in  perplexing  situations:  but  his  actions  will  in  every 
case  be  determined  by  the  kind  of  character  he  has. 

Indeed:  teaching  is  essentially  a  spiritual  thing.  All  de- 
pends upon  the  spirit  in  which  information  is  imparted,  upon 
the  ideal  towards  which  knowledge  is  directed;  upon  the 
educator's  power  to  strengthen  the  will,  to  inspire  the  heart, 
to  ennoble  the  aspirations  of  his  pupil.  If  education  has  any 
reference  at  all  to  the  building  up  of  character — and  who 
will  undertake  to  dispute  this  claim  ? — it  must  have  an  ethico- 
religious  background.  In  fact,  ethics  and  religion  are  the 
fountain-heads  from  which  the  true  teacher  will  draw  his 
strength,  and  towards  which  the  eyes  of  the  inspired  stu- 
dent must  turn  for  invigoration  and  revelation. 

When  the  conditions  of  the  religious  life  were  simple  and 
elementary;  when  the  life  of  all  individuals  was  believed 
to  be  directed  by  powers  which  to  all  serious  people  re- 
vealed themselves  in  practically  the  same  form;  in  other 
words,  when  the  God  of  the  prophet  was  the  God  of  the 
multitude,  when  the  national  life  expressed  itself  spiritually 
in  a  national  religion: — the  case  was  free  from  complexity. 
Education  was  then  permeated  by  ideas  and  ideals  which 
all  held  practically  in  common.  Conscience  was  then  the 
product  of  universal  agreement,  so  to  speak.  Nowadays  there 
is  a  perplexing  difficulty.    The  form  in  which  the  religious 


12        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

idea  manifests  itself  is  no  longer  a  simple  and  constant 
element;  out  of  universal  oneness,  of  elementary  uniformity, 
there  has  emerged  a  differentiated  organism  of  which  the  dif- 
ferent parts  live  their  individual  lives.  It  has  become  a  mat- 
ter of  common  justice  to  respect  the  freedom  of  the  indi- 
vidual, notably  in  matters  of  conscience;  to  recognize  that 
each  individual  is  a  unit  by  himself,  produced  by  forces  which 
differentiated  him  from  all  others,  and  that  the  world  will 
necessarily  picture  itself  in  each  one  in  a  form  characteristic 
of  his  special  constitution.  Thus  what  was  once  a  national 
church  has  been  split  up  into  a  large  number  of  sects  and 
sub-sects;  and  religious  notions  shade  off  on  one  hand  into 
creeds  which  were  originally  foreign  elements,  and  were  im- 
ported subsequent  to  the  closer  intercourse  of  nations;  and 
on  the  other  to  abstractions  of  a  more  or  less  philosophic  char- 
acter. Unfortunately,  mistaken  fervor  which  fails  to  recog- 
nize that  all  these  various  groups  strive  for  the  same  goal, 
believe  in  the  same  ideal,  and  draw  their  strength  from  the 
same  eternal  facts  of  existence,  only  in  different  ways  and 
under  different  symbols,  has  produced  a  mutual  mistrust  and 
enmity  between  these  groups,  and  education  is  very  much  the 
sufferer  for  it.  Even  in  purely  secular  matters  we  are  apt 
to  be  impressed  much  more  by  the  manner  of  a  thing,  than 
by  its  meaning  or  essence ;  a  pleasant  lie  offends  us  less  than 
impetuous  frankness.  And  it  is  only  too  true  that  religious 
fervor  is  prone  to  lead  to  intolerance  and  fanaticism.  Thus 
free  thinkers  will  ridicule  orthodox  believers  as  being  plainly 
ignorant,  and  believers  will  denounce  all  who  do  not  pro- 
fess a  personal  god,  as  necessarily  wicked  and  immoral ;  and 
Jews  and  Christians,  Baptists  and  Methodists,  Episcopalians 
and  Presbyterians,  Catholics  and  Protestants,  are  constantly 
branding  each  other  as  transgressors  and  gentiles. 

This  very  struggle  between  different  religious  attitudes  has 
led  to  a  still  greater  secularization  of  public  instruction  than 
when  there  was  merely  a  quarrel  between  the  Church  and 
State.  For  into  whose  hands  can  the  spiritual  guidance  of 
our  children  be  entrusted  if  there  is  so  much  uncertainty  as  to 
what  is  the  true  religion  ?  The  public  schools  have  therefore 
in  many  instances  declined  all  responsibility  for  the  ethico- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD         13 

religious  training  of  their  pupils,  confining  themselves  to  sec- 
ular instruction  pure  and  simple;  on  the  other  hand,  numer- 
ous sectarian  schools  have  sprung  up,  all  supplying  an  educa- 
tion which  indeed  contains  the  ethico-religious  element,  but 
which,  by  its  pronouncedly  dogmatic  and  separatistic  char- 
acter, tends  to  widen  the  gulf  that  unhappily  gapes  between 
different  portions  of  the  nation.  Denominational  schools, 
like  all  denominational  institutions,  exhibit  the  tendency 
inherent  in  all  political  and  religious  systems  that  have  be- 
come institutionally  fixed  and  authoritative,  viz.  the  ten- 
dency of  self -perpetuation  in  place  of  growth ;  of  acquiring 
and  maintaining  power  instead  of  recognizing  the  principle 
of  freedom  and  progressive  differentiation. 

The  secularization  of  instruction  has,  among  other  things, 
exerted  a  deplorable  influence  upon  the  quality  of  the  teach- 
ing talent.  When  education  was  a  matter  of  spiritual  con- 
cern, when  it  was  a  prerogative  of  a  class  which  represented 
the  most  spiritually  minded  elements  of  the  community,  the 
teaching  was  undertaken  with  a  seriousness  of  purpose,  and 
an  equipment  of  knowledge,  as  high  as  the  respective  stage  of 
culture  allowed.  Teaching  was,  then,  a  life-calling.  And 
we  must  not  fancy  that  the  priest-teacher  of  those  times  was 
not  professionally  fit  for  his  particular  work.  There  was 
perhaps  little,  or  no,  strictly  professional  training  in  these 
ecclesiastical  times;  but  teaching  was  then  as  now  an  art; 
what  lack  of  training  there  was,  was  largely  compensated  by 
empiric  knowledge  of  child-nature,  by  intuitive  insight,  and 
by  recognition  of  an  ethical  aim.  At  an  early  date,  those 
among  the  priests  who  showed  eminent  fitness  for  the  office 
of  teacher,  were  selected  for  the  special  function ;  and  indeed, 
even  tho  the  caste  appeared  as  a  unit  before  the  multitude, 
ability  and  preference  soon  worked  a  differentiation  of  tasks 
among  its  members.  Measuring  the  teaching  done  under 
these  conditions  by  the  standard  of  the  times,  it  was  cer- 
tainly of  a  high  order,  even  tho  it  was  of  an  exclusixe  char- 
acter and  bestowed  upon  a  favored  few. 

When  teaching  became  the  business  of  secular  persons  who 
did  it  for  hire,  the  spirit  of  the  work  degenerated  at  once. 
Not  that  there  had  not  been  from  Quintilian's  time  down 


14        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

to  our  own,  many  inspired  secular  teachers  whose  influence 
was  ennobh'ng  and  far-reaching.  But  the  general  trend  of 
secular  education  was  utilitarian,  and  the  teachers  were  re- 
cruited from  all  walks  of  life,  mostly  the  lowliest.  Secular 
education  had  a  democratic  tendency — it  embraced  wide  cir- 
cles and  gradually  developed  the  idea  of  popular  education. 
Grand  and  momentous  as  this  new  ideal  was,  it  increased 
the  demand  for  teachers  at  such  a  rate  that  the  supply  was 
often  insufficient.  For  the  so-called  people,  i.  e.  common 
people,  a  minimum  of  instruction  was  supposed  to  be  ample, 
which  permitted  the  employment  of  very  ignorant  persons 
as  teachers;  as  these  were  selected,  as  a  rule,  by  "patrons", 
or  boards,  rarely  representing  the  highest  culture  of  the 
times,  incredible  conditions  prevailed  in  many  schools  of  this 
type.  These  were  the  days  when  anyone  who  was  not  good 
enough  for  anything  else,  was  still  thought  competent  to  be 
a  school -master ;  if  he  could  wield  the  rod  with  satisfactory 
energy,  all  was  well.  Cripples  and  invalids  of  all  kinds,  slaves 
or  servants,  broken-down  traders,  shepherds  and  blacksmiths 
were  the  teachers  in  the  secular  elementary  schools,  or  were 
employed  in  homes  as  tutors  of  the  young.  In  higher  instruc- 
tion alone  students  of  divinity  long  held  their  own  and  were 
employed  in  Colleges  and  High  Schools  and  as  private  tu- 
tors in  wealthy  families.  But  on  the  whole,  the  profession, 
if  such  it  can  be  called,  was  in  a  degraded  state;  it  was  "low 
business"  as  it  was  called  even  in  the  earlier  days  of  our 
own  glorious  republic.  Teachers  had  no  social  standing  at 
all;  in  compensation  and  respect  they  often  ranked  lower 
than  ordinary  servants. 

These  conditions  are  not  altogether  a  thing  of  the  past. 
Even  nowadays,  it  is  not  uncommon  for  a  man  to  try  his 
hand  at  teaching  after  he  has  failed  in  everything  else ;  and 
the  scholarship  and  professional  training  of  teachers  is  not 
generally  high.  A  French,  German,  or  Italian  immigrant,  if 
he  does  not  readily  find  employment  will  set  himself  up  as 
a  "professor"  of  languages  or  music,  or  what  not,  suppos- 
ing to  have  a  perfect  right  to  do  so.  Many  people  entertain 
the  idea  that  all  that  is  necessary  for  being  able  to  teach  a  sub- 
ject is  to  know  it;   the  fallacy  of  this  notion  it  is  not  easy 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD         15 

to  demonstrate  to  one  who  is  ignorant  of  the  psychological 
laws  that  govern  the  workings  of  the  human  mind.  But  the 
conditions  would  not  be  half  so  sad  as  they  are  if  these  pro- 
fessed teachers  really  did  know  what  they  undertake  to  teach ; 
yet  instances  are  only  too  numerous  when  a  very  little  knowl- 
edge is  puffed  up  in  a  very  delusive  semblance  of  proficiency. 
Teaching  has  as  yet  become  a  profession  with  a  very  few; 
most  teachers  found  employed  in  many  of  our  schools  are 
either  young  men  who  use  their  position  in  a  public  school 
as  a  stepping  stone  to  "something  better",  or  young  girls  who 
want  to  fill  the  interval  between  their  own  school  days  and 
the  blessings  of  married  life  with  some  sort  of  respectable  oc- 
cupation— and  school  teaching  has  at  last  gained  recognition 
as  a  respectable  occupation.  The  case  of  these  young  girls 
is  perhaps  not  the  worst  feature  of  the  general  situation,  by 
any  means;  they  gain  in  this  way  an  experience  which  may 
stand  them  in  good  stead  when  they  have  children  of  their 
own.  It  has  become  a  growing  conviction  among  progres- 
sive educators  that  Frobel  was  right  when  he  suggested  that 
every  young  woman  should  be  given  a  chance  to  study  and 
handle  children  as  a  preparation  for  motherhood.  The  only 
difficulty  is  this  that  most  of  our  young  teachers  enter  upon 
their  work  without  real  preparation  for  it;  they  have  little 
understanding  of  it,  they  have  likewise  little  love  for  it.  With 
them  it  is  a  daily  mechanism,  the  veriest  routine;  and  there 
is  danger  that  they  will  carry  the  superficial  notion  of  child- 
life  and  education  which  governs  their  work  in  school,  into 
their  later  life  of  maternal  functions.  And  if  we  may  judge 
the  public  valuation  of  the  teacher's  services  by  what  they 
are  "worth"  to  the  school  boards  in  dollars  and  cents,  their 
social  standing  is  still  very  mediocre;  few  receive  a  salary 
that  makes  them  financially  independent,  or  even  free  from 
care  or  that  can  compare  with  the  wages  paid  to  clerks,  cooks, 
and  other  such  worthies  whose  responsibilities  are  vastly  in- 
ferior. 

However,  if  we  survey  the  whole  field  of  public  instruc- 
tion, we  may  congratulate  ourselves  upon  the  great  change 
that  has  taken  place  during  the  last  century.  Ever  since  the 
days  of  Rousseau  and  Pestalozzi,  there  has  been  gradually 


i6        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

evolved  a  higher  conception  of  the  office  of  the  teacher.  Both 
these  great  minds  recognized  the  need  of  a  better  understand- 
ing of  the  child-soul  before  we  can  administer  to  its  wants. 
It  was  the  dawn  of  a  child-psychology  that  was  destined  to 
revolutionize  education.  Herbart  and  Frobel  were  the 
apostles  of  this  new  gospel,  and  whatever  is  good  in  modem 
developments  can  be  traced  back  to  suggestions  from  these 
two  great  teachers,  erroneous  as  some  of  their  philosophical 
premises  were.  All  at  once  the  child  became  the  center  of 
interest,  and  teaching  assumed  a  new  significance.  The  great 
movement  of  child-study  has  stirred  up  the  minds  of 
educators  especially  in  our  own  country  and  in  Germany,  and 
has  resulted  in  the  beginning  of  a  new  pedagogy 
based  upon  the  careful  study  of  the  object  of  education,  the 
child,  a  pedagogy  which  is  at  once  a  science  and  an  art: — 
it  has  served  to  spiritualize  the  work  which  has  so  long  been 
under  the  bane  of  a  one-sided  secularism.  The  teacher,  from 
the  new  point  of  view,  is  not  merely  a  lesson-giver,  a  me- 
chanical contrivance  for  the  pouring  in  of  infonnation ;  he 
is  not  the  child's  jailor,  and  the  arch-enemy  of  all  the  child's 
natural  impulses  and  instincts:  he  is  his  friend  and  counselor, 
loving  him  and  studying  him;  his  spiritual  helper  and,  per- 
chance, his  assistant  physician,  his  servant  and  his  ideal — in 
one  word:  his  educator.  Child-psychology  has  brought  to 
light  with  scientific  accuracy  the  fact  that  it  is  idle  to  under- 
take intellectual  instruction  without  influencing  the  moral 
faculties;  that  no  absorption  and  normal  assimilation  of 
instructive  matter  is  possible  without  due  attention  to  the 
training  of  the  will ;  that  intellectual  training  of  the  whole- 
some kind  is  identical  with  will  training,  and  that  all  we  do 
with  the  child  will  be  somehow  reflected  in  his  moral  and 
religious  character.  All  the  forces  that  make  up  the  child's 
environment  are  of  educational  import  and  will  influence  his 
fortune  in  after  life.  Secular  education  as  it  has  been  under- 
stood is  an  illusion,  an  impossibility;  all  education  is  in  its 
very  essence  spiritual  education,  for  good  or  evil.  Where  the 
spiritual  element  is  neglected,  education  will  be  a  dismal 
failure ;  it  will  not  be  simply  negative  or  neutral  in  its  eflFect, 
but  will  tend  to  corrupt,  or  at  least  confuse,  the  moral  char- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD         17 

acter  of  the  child. 

Thus  the  profession  of  the  teacher  assumes  a  new  dignity. 
He  is  again,  as  of  old,  recognized  to  be  a  spiritual  power, 
and  comes  next  to  the  parent  in  direct  and  telling  influence 
upon  the  future  and  character  of  the  child.  His  is  an  almost 
priestly  function  inasmuch  as  the  young  soul  is  given  into 
his  keeping;  and  since  it  has  been  demonstrated  that  psycho- 
logical development  is  bound  up  with  physiological  conditions 
of  health  and  disease,  he  will  have  to  assume  at  certain  junc- 
tures some  of  the  duties  which  are  professionally  assigned  to 
the  consulting  physician.  In  his  person,  he  will  therefore  rep- 
resent a  combination  of  functions  which  in  a  measure  re- 
vives that  ancient  order  from  which  the  special  functions  of 
the  teacher  has  become  disintegrated.  As  he  will  have 
to  be  in  close  touch  with  the  ethical  and  religious  life  of  the 
conununity  as  represented  by  the  progress  in  church  and 
philosophy,  so  as  to  develop  and  refine  his  own  religious  life; 
further  with  the  medical  profession  whose  assistance  he  will 
need  daily  in  solving  the  educational  problems  which  individ- 
ual children  will  present  to  him ;  and  finally  with  the  progress 
of  science  in  general  which  he  is  to  mediate  to  young  minds 
in  his  charge :  he  will  be  instrumental  in  bringing  about  a  new 
brotherhood  and  community  of  spiritual  interests — a  commu- 
nity which  will  differ  from  the  ancient  caste-organization  of 
patriarchal  times  mainly  in  this  that  it  will  be  based  upon 
freedom  of  conscience  and  the  spirit  of  progress  and  mutual 
tolerance  and  helpfulness. 

This  new  dignity  entails  a  new  responsibility,  indeed  one 
so  vast  that  none  of  us  will  ever  be  able  to  attain  the  ideal. 
"But  no  end  can  arouse  enthusiasm  if  complete  attainment 
be  possible"  (Prof.  Geo.  H.  Palmer),  The  teacher  must 
stake  his  whole  life,  spiritually,  on  his  work ;  he  must  sanctify 
his  entire  personality  and  sacrifice  it  to  the  sacred  duties 
which  he  assumes. 

The  teacher  is  the  school.  It  is  not  the  course  of  studies, 
nor  the  "methods"  employed,  upon  which  the  success  of 
school  education  depends ;  but  the  principles  which  the  teach- 
er lives,  the  spirit  which  imbues  him,  the  character  and  per- 
sonality of  him  thru  whose  agency  the  abstract  facts  of  knowl- 


i8        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

edge  become  living  realities  and  moral  forces  to  the  children. 

Not  every  scholar  is  necessarily  a  teacher,  but  every  teacher 
must  be  a  scholar.  Not  in  the  sense  that  he  be  an  expert  in 
any  one  science  or  a  number  of  sciences.  But  he  must  pos- 
sess the  scientific  spirit;  the  spirit  of  research  and  progres- 
siveness,  and  that  genuine  scholarship  which  is  not  so  much 
concerned  in  the  accumulation  of  a  vast  number  of  facts  as 
in  the  intelligent  use  of  those  which  are  at  hand.  The  teacher 
must  be  an  investigator  and  aspire  to  larger  knowledge,  such 
as  will  expand  his  own  personality  and  widen  the  horizon  of 
his  interests.  He  must  not  know  just  enough  to  teach  and 
not  be  found  out  by  his  pupils — but  must  personate  to  them, 
not  an  infallible  oracle  by  any  means,  but  the  incorruptible 
dignity,  the  broad  interests  and  salutary  influences  of  true 
science,  even  tho  it  be  in  a  modest  way.  The  teacher's  inter- 
est ought  not  to  be  confined  to  the  four  walls  of  his  school 
room  lest  he  become  narrow  and  self-complacent,  and  petty 
and  nagging.  He  must  live  the  larger  life,  and  concern  him- 
self in  the  great  problems  of  his  age,  so  that  he  may  keep 
steadily  before  him  the  great  aim  of  all  educational  effort, 
viz.  to  fit  the  children  to  carry  the  banner  of  civilization  to 
still  loftier  heights,  that  "banner  with  the  strange  device 
'Excelsior!'" 

The  true  teacher  will  cherish  motives  in  his  bosom  so  as 
to  awaken  high  motives  in  the  breasts  of  the  young.  Too 
much  is  our  present  life  given  to  emulation;  it  is  not  excel- 
lence we  strive  after,  but  the  ability  to  excel,  to  surpass,  to 
outstrip  others.  Our  age  is  one  of  merciless  competition,  and 
our  ordinary  school  practice,  by  a  seductive  system  of  marks, 
reports,  and  prizes,  arouses  and  stimulates  this  unhappy  ten- 
dency in  our  young  children.  "The  larger  part  of  the  pu- 
pils leave  the  school  with  no  higher  aim  than  to  outstrip 
their  neighbors,  not  to  help  them,  in  the  pursuit  of  the  com- 
forts and  luxuries  of  life."  (A.  Caswell  Ellis,  in  the  "Ped- 
agogical Seminary",  Oct.,  1897).  Here  is  the  teacher's  op- 
portunity. If  he  has  the  high  motive,  if  he  is  not  swayed  by 
sordid  considerations,  petty  jealousies  and  emulative  ambi- 
tions ;  if  he  has  the  unselfish  heart,  if  he  loves  his  neighbor  as 
he  does  himself :  then  will  he  inspire  his  pupils  with  the  force 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD         19 

of  his  noble  example. 

The  main  factor  of  the  ethical  influence  of  the  school  is 
certainly  the  teacher.  "There  are  teachers,  and  there  are 
others  who  falsely  enter  that  holy  office.  .  .  .  There  are 
teachers  in  whose  very  presence  is  delight.  The  child  feels 
the  inspiration  of  a  great  life  and  is  influenced  accordingly. 
Such  a  teacher  is  an  effective  apostle  of  a  better  living,  and 
gives  an  uplift  and  an  impulse  to  the  students'  life  that  can- 
not be  measured  this  side  of  eternity."  (Preston  W.  Search, 
in  'The  Ethics  of  the  Public  Schools".  Educational  Re- 
view, Feb.,  1896). 

It  is  not  so  much  a  matter  of  what  ideals  a  teacher  teaches, 
as  of  what  ideals  are  in  his  own  heart.  These  ideals  will  in- 
fluence his  entire  manner.  There  must  be  absolute  fairness  and 
self-control,  unfailing  cheerfulness  and  sympathy,  a  readiness 
to  appreciate  the  pupil's  side  of  the  problem  and  to  forget  his 
own ;  a  loving  interest  in  the  individual  needs  of  each  child, 
a  wise  discernment  of  causes  and  effects,  physical,  moral  and 
intellectual;  a  tactful  attitude  towards  the  parents  whose 
co-operation  must  be  secured,  the  influences  of  heredity  and 
environment  having  been  discreetly  studied;  a  ready  heart 
and  a  willing  hand  to  help  the  most  forlorn  and  abandoned 
little  soul  and  neglected  body  even  more  promptly  than  the 
dainty  child  of  wealth  and  winning  manners.  "Come  unto 
me  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden  and  I  will  give  you 
rest".  We  must  be  meek  and  lowly  and  glorify  ourselves 
by  service. 

In  a  stirring  lecture  before  the  Brookline  Educational  So- 
ciety, Professor  Geo.  H.  Palmer  expressed  these  beautiful 
thoughts:  "The  great  characteristic  of  teaching,  and  one  that 
is  too  often  overlooked,  is  that  in  the  teacher  we  must  expect 
a  readiness  for  vicariousness.  We  must  take  up  a  double- 
ended  life;  we  must  see  not  only  where  truth  arises,  but 
where  it  penetrates.  ...  A  teacher  cannot  live  his  own 
life,  but  must  live  the  lives  of  others — many  others,  and  all 
different.  He  must  take  on  conditions  not  his  own,  and  look 
at  things  from  another's  standpoint.  He  must  lead  the  stu- 
dent on,  step  by  step,  and  then  must  be  continually  retreat- 
ing to  the  first  standpoint  and  first  principles." 


20        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

We  must  perhaps  not  take  it  literally  when  he  says  a  teach- 
er cannot  live  his  own  life.  Unless  a  teacher  has  freedom  to 
be  himself,  to  live  up  to  the  best  that  is  in  him,  to  live  his 
own  individual  life,  he  cannot  understand  the  lives  of  oth- 
ers. Truly  by  "taking  on  conditions  not  his  own",  he  will 
expand  his  own  individuality,  and  his  must  be  the  capacity 
to  be  truly  happy  only  when  living  with  and  for  children. 
Well  does  Prof.  Palmer  say:  "The  teacher  puts  himself  in- 
side of  the  young  lives ;  many  times  he  lives  the  lives  of  all ; 
he  is  among  you  as  one  who  serves.  .  .  .  We  must  bear 
the  child's  burdens  vicariously,  we  must  study  out  the  line  of 
the  least  intellectual  resistance;  must  spend  days  in  discover- 
ing where  the  burden  can  be  rolled  away.  Knowledge  buflfets 
the  child ;  we  must  aid  it  in  penetrating  the  young  mind  with 
the  least  friction.  All  this  we  must  do,  not  for  our  own  sake, 
but  for  the  sake  of  the  children.  We  must  love  to  do  it,  and 
unless  we  do,  it  is  no  profession  for  us." 

It  has  been  said  before  in  this  chapter  that  the 
teacher  should  have  larger  interests  outside  of  the  school- 
room. Then,  reference  was  made  principally  to  the  expan- 
sion of  the  teacher's  own  personality.  But  there  is  another 
side  to  this  suggestion.  The  fuller  conception  of  education 
recognizes  the  fact  that  the  teacher  is  only  one  of  many  fac- 
tors that  determine  the  future  character  of  the  rising  gener- 
ation. He  is  one  of  the  most  effective  to  be  sure;  but  the 
more  or  less  silent  influences  of  the  general  environment  of 
the  child,  at  home,  in  the  public  thorofares  and  conveyances, 
in  places  of  amusement  and  recreation,  must  not  be  under- 
estimated in  their  distinct  significance.  This  environment 
comprises  the  city  where  the  child  lives,  the  state  to  which  this 
belongs,  the  native  country,  and  in  a  larger  sense  the  civilized 
portion  of  our  globe  of  which  the  immediate  school  location 
is  but  a  small  and  perhaps  insignificant  part.  Remote  as 
some  of  these  influences  may  seem,  they  are  no  less  real  and 
determinative.  The  institutions  of  the  immediate  com- 
munity, the  j)olitics  of  the  state,  the  ethical  conscience 
of  the  nation  as  expressed  in  its  public  opinion  and  family  life 
no  less  than  in  national  problems  of  finance  and  foreign  rela- 
tions; the  general  trend  of  thought  which  shapes  the  world's 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        21 

destiny:  all  these  elements  affect  very  notably  the  conditions 
under  which  our  children  grow  up,  and  they  will  be  reflected 
in  their  lives.  The  broad-minded  teacher  will  have  an  active 
interest  in  all  that  pertains  to  these  common  human  affairs. 
He  is  himself  a  social  factor  of  no  mean  importance  and 
should  make  himself  felt  as  such.  "I  perceive,"  says  Walter 
Channing,  "the  idea  gaining  ground  that  true  education 
means  a  correlation  of  all  educative  forces,  both  of  the  home 
and  the  school,  supplementing  each  other  and  working  har- 
moniously together". 

The  conscientious  teacher  will  endeavor  to  bring  about  an 
intelligent  co-operation  of  school  and  home,  first  of  all.  He 
will  everywhere  and  under  all  circumstances  stand  up  pub- 
licly for  the  cause  of  a  rational  education.  In  the  rural  dis- 
tricts whose  school  problem  is  particularly  perplexing,  he  will 
be  a  missionary,  an  educational  center  from  which  may 
radiate  impulses  of  enlightment  and  progress,  inspirations 
for  a  higher  life.  There  should  be  as  many  such  radiating 
centers  as  there  are  school  districts.  In  the  city  the  teacher 
will  be  interested  in  the  cleanliness  and  decency  of  streets, 
highways,  cars,  etc. ;  he  will  propagate  the  idea  of  public  play- 
grounds ;  he  will  be  an  ardent  auxiliary  to  the  social  reformer 
in  the  cause  of  uplifting  the  conditions  of  the  poor  and  mis- 
erable, as  to  better  homes,  better  food,  better  wages  for  the 
laboring  man  so  that  his  children  be  not  cheated  out  of  their 
birthright;  he  will  be  active  in  all  endeavors  to  elevate  the 
moral  tone  of  the  community.  He  will  be  one  of  the  factors 
that  shape  public  opinion.  He  will  be  a  worker  along  phil- 
anthropic and  religious  lines  of  activity — not  with  narrow 
denominational  fanaticism,  but  with  the  enlightened  zeal  of 
the  true  humanitarian.  He  will  be  an  energetic  politician, 
not  in  the  spirit  of  selfish  partisanship,  but  with  a  view  of 
leading  the  commonwealth  of  which  he  is  a  member,  on  to 
the  realization  of  loftier  social  and  political  ideas  than  are 
embodied  in  it  at  the  time  being. 

Great  problems  are  agitating  men's  minds  now,  and  strug- 
gle for  solution ;  the  generations  of  the  twentieth  century 
will  have  a  purer  religion,  a  juster  social  order,  a  more  per- 
fect political  government,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  than  we  have. 


22        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

What  all  these  changes  will  imply,  who  can  tell?    Theories 
and  systems  have  been  advanced  by  many  among  us,  but  the 
new  order  of  the  future  will  necessarily  shape  itself  in  accord- 
ance with  eternal  laws  of  growth,  and  the  outcome  can  be 
only  dimly  divined  by  living  men.     We  can,  however,  as 
teachers,  help  to  make  the  happier  and  better  mankind  of 
coming  days ;  they  who  are  now  children  will  be  the  builders 
of  that  future.  Let  us  do  our  share  that  they  may  see  with 
clearer  vision  than  we  can,  that  they  aspire  to  noble  aims, 
that  they  may  think  their  own  thoughts,  that  they  be  touched 
in  their  innermost  hearts  by  the  sense  of  the  responsibility 
that  awaits  them;  that  they  be  free  from  cant,  prejudice  and 
narrowness,  that  they  may  divine  the  eternal  in  contrast  to 
their  own  finite  existence,  that  they  will  recognize  the  spirit- 
ual forces  which  rule  the  world.     Reform  is  not  so  much  a 
matter  of  laws  and  government;   it  is  the  outcome  of  a  spir- 
itual ethical  regeneration.     The  problems  of  today  are  edu- 
cational problems  in  their  very  essence.    This  means  indeed 
a  new  conception  of  the  teacher's  functions,  and  a  reversal 
of   common   methods   of   education.      "The  utilitarian   and 
money-getting,  so  called  'practical'  side  of  life,"  says  A.  Cas- 
well Ellis  in  his  "Philosophy  of  Education"   ("Pedagogical 
Seminary,"  Oct.,  1897)  "must  be  balanced  off  by  giving  in 
the  schools  a  deeper  appreciation  of  those  spiritual  elements 
in  man's  nature  which  alone  distinguish  him  from  the  brutes. 
They  must  feel  that  there  are  inexhaustible  stores  for  the 
human  soul  far  beyond  mere  worldly  goods  or  intellectual 
possessions,  and  that  this  truer  wealth  can  be  shared  by  every 
one  to  his  full  capacity  without  limiting  the  supply  to  his 
neighbor,  that  of  this  wealth  it  may  be  truly  said  that  he  who 
scattereth  abroad  increaseth.    The  full  breadth  and  depth  of 
the  human  soul  must  be  better  touched  by  our  educational 
efforts,  and  the  abnormal  amount  of  attention  given  to  the 
logical,   intellectual   faculties  be  balanced  by  a  more  sane 
development  of  those  no  less  human  and  God-given  powers 
which  so  potently  affect  life  and  character,  and  whose  proper 
development  alone  can  make  the  sane  and  wholesome  life. 
In  a  word,  full  unity  and  balance  of  the  human  soul  should 
be  maintained  and  the  whole  man  educated." 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        23 

This  is  the  spiritual  regeneration  of  which  the  teacher  is 
largely  the  representative  and  agent.  It  has  been  said  before 
that  in  the  teacher  there  is  re-established  the  union  of  those 
spiritual  forces  which  were  integrated  in  the  ecclesiastical 
caste  of  ancient  times.  This  thought  may  be  put  into  another 
form:  it  is  thru  the  educational  idea,  thru  the  conception  of 
human  progress  as  an  educational  process,  that  a  new  unifi- 
cation of  spiritual  efforts  can  be  effected.  The  physician  is 
then  no  longer  a  mere  administerer  of  drugs  and  medicines, 
but  the  teacher  and  apostle  of  the  healthy  and  vigorous  life. 
The  priest  is  no  longer  a  savage  shaman  or  exorcist,  or  denom- 
inational fanatic,  but  a  mediator  between  man's  secular  and 
spiritual  natures,  a  teacher  of  the  higher  life,  irrespective  of 
separative  creeds.  Science  and  philosophy  have  ceased  to  be 
magic  and  idle  speculation;  they  have  attained  significance 
as  bearing  directly  upon  the  life  conditions  of  our  race,  and 
upon  a  truer  conception  of  the  divine  universe.  All  these 
professions  are  educative  forces;  education  is  the  new  focus 
in  which  these  various  activities  center.  Thus  a  new  brother- 
hood of  spiritual  potencies  is  forming  on  a  broader  basis  along 
lines  of  greater  freedom  and  more  vigorous  growth  and  effec- 
tiveness. There  is  no  longer  a  community  of  creed;  you 
and  I  may  conceive  of  the  powers  that  govern  the  universe 
and  make  for  righteousness,  in  very  different  ways,  and  call 
them  by  different  names.  But  let  there  be  a  community  of 
spirit ;  an  honest  seeking  after  truth ;  let  there  be  a  unity  of 
effort,  of  deed,  if  not  of  creed.  Let  us  all  grasp  hands  and 
unite  our  forces  in  the  service  of  humanity.  For  such  is  the 
new  dignity  and  the  new  responsibility  of  the  teacher's  pro- 
fession. 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Significance  of  the  Kindergarten  and  its  Rational 
Development 

THE  new  education,  as  the  progressive  educational 
movement  of  our  times  has  been  called,  took  its 
origin  in  Pestalozzi's  seemingly  impractical  enter- 
prise in  Switzerland.  Pestalozzi  died  imagining 
that  his  life-efforts  had  been  a  failure;  yet  his 
ideas  have  fertilized  the  barren  field  of  pre-revolutionary  edu- 
cation and  have  made  it  bring  forth  an  abundant  harvest.  It 
was,  however,  due  to  the  intuitive  mind  of  Frobel  to  divine 
the  needs  of  childhood  in  their  fullness,  and  to  give  a  definite 
shape  to  the  new  educational  ideas  so  as  to  serve  as  a  working 
system  for  the  practice  of  early  education. 

Herbart,  the  German  philosopher;  Spencer,  the  English 
thinker,  and  the  later  child  study  movement,  with  a  host  of 
other  influences,  have  given  an  enormous  impetus  to  progres- 
sive activity,  and  we  have  now  a  very  different  conception 
of  the  meaning  of  education  from  what  it  had  been  at  the 
time  of  our  fathers.  But  the  Frobelian  Kindergarten  is  the 
only  division  of  the  school  system  at  the  present  time  which 
is  altogether  based  upon  definitely  framed  and  widely  recog- 
nized principles,  and  the  practice  of  which  has  been  worked 
out  in  satisfactory  detail  so  that  it  may  be  at  once  intro- 
duced and  permanently  established.  This  cannot  yet  be 
claimed  for  the  more  recent  reform  ideas  which  are  destined, 
let  us  hope,  to  revise  our  entire  educational  system. 

It  must  further  be  admitted  that  many  of  these  later  prin- 
ciples have  been  directly  derived  from  the  experiences  of  the 
kindergarten.   Thru  these  latter  the  child  was  re-discovered, 

24 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        25 

as  It  were,  by  educators;  the  child  became  the  center  of 
pedagogical  thought  and  interest,  and  the  right  relation  and 
proportion  of  educational  forces  became  recognized. 

The  kindergarten,  then,  has  been  truly  the  pioneer  of  pro- 
gressive educational  methods.  Following  the  introduction  of 
kindergartens  in  our  school  systems,  there  came  a  new  awak- 
ening of  teachers  and  parents  to  the  real  meaning  and  im- 
port of  education.  This  introduction  signified  a  powerful 
reaction  against  formal  teaching,  routine  methods,  mere  book 
learning,  and  undue  forcing  of  the  child.  It  is  curious  to 
note  how  the  kindergarten  has  everywhere  served  as  a  wedge 
for  opening  a  point  of  vantage  where  the  new  forces  could 
enter.  This  process  was  not  always  a  conscious  one  on  the 
part  of  its  promoters,  but  it  was  ever  sure  of  success,  altho  oc- 
casionally slow  and  patience-trying.  It  is  an  interesting  fact 
to  be  recorded  that  our  first  efforts  to  reclaim  Cuba  from 
the  desolation  and  ruination  in  which  Spanish  misrule  and 
internal  strife  had  left  the  Pearl  of  the  Antilles,  included 
the  sending  of  educational  missionaries  for  the  reorganization 
of  the  schools,  and  that  the  kindergartners  were  the  advance 
guard  of  this  army  of  peaceful  conquest.  Thru  the  kinder- 
garten the  little  waifs  of  the  Reconcentrados  were  being  won 
over  to  civilization  and  prosperity:  it  preaches  the  gospel  of 
good  will  to  man,  of  freedom,  and  of  happiness.  So  it  did 
in  the  Philippine  Islands. 

Thus,  the  kindergarten  is  a  missionary  of  Teutonic  civi- 
lization in  far-off  India,  the  dreamland  of  the  Brahmans, 
where  now  Eastern  and  Western  methods  of  culture  are  com- 
ing into  close  contact.  Under  the  direction  of  the  Swami 
Vivekananda  who  was  India's  representative  at  the  World's 
Congress  of  Religions  at  Chicago  in  1893,  a  Miss  Noble,  an 
English  girl,  opened  the  first  kindergarten  for  Hindoo  chil- 
dren some  years  ago. 

New  as  the  kindergarten  seems  to  be,  it  is  in  reality  an 
old  ideal  revived  by  the  educational  renaissance  of  the  xixth 
century.  The  great  Amos  Comenius  who  was  born  in  1592, 
did  not  only  anticipate  the  modem  psychological  methods  of 
concrete  and  constructive  teaching,  but  he  even  outlined  an 
Infants'  or  Mothers'  School  which  corresponded  broadly  to 


26        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

what  we  now  call  the  kindergarten.  He  maintained  that  in 
this  Infants'  school  the  child  must  be  taught  the  elements  of 
everything  necessary  to  the  building  up  of  the  life  of  man, 
including  the  rudiments  of  nature-knowledge,  history, 
language,  etc.  His  phraseology  appears  at  times  strange  to 
us,  but  he  means  essentially  the  same  thing  which  we  mean, 
altho  naturally  his  psychology  was  rudimentary.  He  even 
compares  the  school  to  a  garden,  and  in  his  "Schola  Ludus" 
(The  School  as  Play)  he  revives  the  ancient  Roman  concep- 
tion of  the  school  as  "schola",  viz.  leisure,  pastime — or  rather 
an  opportunity  for  culture  thru  the  free  play  of  our  facul- 
ties where  the  mind  is  not  weighed  down  by  professional  and 
routine  duties. 

Why,  then,  is  the  kindergarten  called  a  "kindergarten",  a 
children's  garden?  Poetically  inclined  minds  have  likened 
the  children  to  plants  and  flowers,  and  to  them  the  kinder- 
garten is  that  wonderful  place  where  children  are  reared  and 
cherished  as  a  gardener  cherishes  his  roses  and  violets.  This 
metaphor  is  not  without  significance,  for  we  may  well  learn 
from  the  plants  the  lesson  of  natural  growth,  nourishment, 
care,  and  sunshine,  and  apply  it  to  the  bringing  up  of  our 
little  ones.  Even  their  growth  must  be  carefully  guarded, 
and  their  minds  and  bodies  properly  fed  so  that  they  may 
mature  in  due  time,  and  not  sicken  and  degenerate;  and  into 
their  young  hearts  must  shine  the  sunshine  of  love  and  cheer- 
fulness to  make  them  thrive  and  grow  strong. 

But  Frobel's  idea  of  the  kindergarten  was  rather  that  it 
should  be  a  garden  for  children — a  place  where  there  was 
freedom  from  the  restraint  of  conventional  life ;  where  there 
was  pure  air  and  abundant  light,  healthy  exercises  and  inspir- 
ing observation,  play,  and  joyfulness,  and  common  with  na- 
ture, direct  and  spontaneous. 

This  was  in  itself  a  new  departure.  It  rescued  the  chil- 
dren from  the  pedantic  tasks  of  the  traditional  school.  The 
four  walls  of  the  narrow  schoolroom  with  its  overcrowded 
floor  space,  its  stuffy  air,  its  cheerless  routine,  were  a  verita- 
ble prison  for  the  young  soul  whose  longings  were  for  that 
outer  world  of  beauty  and  activity,  of  freedom  and  frag- 
rance from  which  it  was  now  shut  out.    The  kindergarten 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        27 

meant  a  re-establishment  of  natural  conditions,  at  least  in 
principle.  For  the  ordinary  city  child,  even  the  nursery  is 
devoid  of  those  charms  and  of  that  healthy  atmosphere  which 
the  child  needs  for  his  normal  development — it  means  confine- 
ment, restraint,  lack  of  oxygen  and  of  experience. 

For  this  reason  it  has  been  maintained  that  the  genuine 
kindergarten  should  not  be  merely  a  room  or  hall  set  aside 
and  fitted  up  for  games  and  occupations,  but  a  real  garden, 
or  open  air  space,  where  the  children  might  run  about  and 
play  and  see  plants,  even  planting  them,  taking  care  of  them, 
etc.  In  the  kindergartens  maintained  by  the  "Kindergarten- 
verein"  in  my  native  city  of  Breslau  (there  are  no  public 
kindergartens  in  Germany),  the  children  are  kept  indoors 
only  in  inclement  weather;  otherwise  they  play  in  the  open, 
and  benches  and  tables  are  provided  under  a  shed  where  they 
devote  themselves  to  the  quiet  occupations.  At  the  Pesta- 
lozzi-Frobel-Haus  in  Berlin,  there  is  a  real  flower  and  vege- 
table garden  for  the  use  of  children  where  they  dig  and  plant 
and  water  and  harvest.  Here  is  the  first  stage  of  the  develop- 
ment of  school  gardens  whose  importance  for  nature  study 
and  elementary  agriculture  cannot  be  overestimated. 

This  arrangement  is  particularly  helpful  in  familiariz- 
ing our  young  children  with  their  natural  environment.  True, 
conscientious  teachers  are  ever  endeavoring  to  bring  Nature 
to  the  children  by  way  of  detached  pieces  from  her  vast 
store  of  creations.  It  is  best,  however,  to  take  the  children 
out  to  Nature  whenever  possible,  and  to  transplant  many  of 
the  lessons  under  the  vast  dome  of  the  sky  which  is  usually 
shut  out  from  the  child's  consciousness  by  the  low  ceiling  of 
the  schoolroom.  Let  us  substitute  for  some  of  the  symbols  of 
the  ordinary  school  course,  the  realities  abounding  around  us. 
This  would  correspond  to  Frobel's  principle  of  internal- 
izing the  external,  that  is  of  converting  the  world  of  reality 
outside  of  us  into  a  system  of  sensations,  precepts,  and  con- 
cepts which  makes  it  our  own  world.  The  world  of  objects 
thus  becomes  a  world  of  experiences  and  of  mental  images, 
upon  which  our  mental  life  depends.'  Doing  this,  the  chil- 
dren's organs  of  perception,  their  senses,  are  trained  to  receive 
correct  impressions  and  to  be  capable  of  exact  observation. 


28        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

How  necessary  such  training  is,  those  will  know  who  have 
had  occasion  to  test  the  ideas  of  young  children  whose  early 
experiences  had  been  deficient;  the  perusal  of  Dr.  Stanley 
Hall's  now  famous  monograph  on  "The  Contents  of  Chil- 
dren's Minds  on  Entering  School"  (New  York,  E.  L.  Kel- 
logg &  Co.,  1893)  will  also  be  very  instructive.  Cf.  also 
"Vorstellungskreis  der  Berliner  Kinder  beim  Eintritt  in  die 
Schule."     Berliner  Stadtisches  Jahrbuch  1870. 

A  pathetic  story  was  told  by  the  principal  of  the  kindergar- 
ten department  of  the  Ethical  Culture  Schools.  It  was  the 
custom  to  send  the  little  ones  to  Central  Park  for  games  and 
nature  work  whenever  possible.  One  day  a  new  child  from 
a  down-town  district  was  among  them,  and  when  the  chil- 
dren were  invited  to  play  on  the  lawn,  the  little  waif  cried 
and  could  be  induced  to  step  upon  the  grass  only  after  much 
effort.  It  apparently  regarded  the  green  surface  as  dangerous 
to  tread  upon ;  the  warning  in  the  down-town  parks,  "Keep 
oflf  the  Grass!"  had  played  havoc  with  its  young  mind. 

Quaint  sayings  and  doings  are  reported  of  the  children  who 
attend  the  Vacation  schools,  particularly  when  the  children 
are  taken  to  the  country;  they  are  a  source  of  delight  to  the 
directors  and  teachers  of  the  schools.  Many  of  the  children 
have  never  been  on  a  street  car,  a  train  or  a  boat,  and  the  com- 
monest sights  of  country  life  are  wonders  to  them.  Here  are 
a  few  of  the  funny  things  that  happened: 

In  the  Chicago  Vacation  Schools  an  early  trip  was  to  Lin- 
coln Park.  One  of  the  boys,  seeing  a  chicken  asked :  "Teach- 
er, wot's  dat  t'ing?"  "That's  a  chicken.  Its  the — "  "Wot 
yer  givin'  me?  Dat  ain't  no  chicken.  It's  got  fedders  on. 
I  know  a  chicken,  I  guess.  My  ma  she  had  a  chicken  onct 
for  dinner,  'n'  and  it  didn't  hev  nut'in  on  but  skin."  This 
same  ignorance,  or  unacquaintance  with  the  manifold  nature 
of  their  environment  is  displayed  in  reference  to  other  ob- 
jects. 

"There  goes  a  fu-ne-ral!  There  goes  a  fu-ne-ral!"  sang 
out  a  little  girl  as  she  waited  in  the  door  of  a  railway  sta- 
tion. She  saw  the  cab  passing.  "Somebody's  daid!  There 
goes  a  kerridge!"  Her  only  ideas  of  cabs  and  carriages  were 
connected  with  death  and  she  could  hardly  be  made  to  under- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD         29 

stand  that  they  were  pleasure  vehicles  as  well. 

These  facts  teach  a  tremendous  lesson.  They  show  how 
essential  it  is  to  give  the  child  a  well-rounded  experience  of 
every  day  facts.  We  take  too  much  for  granted.  In  differ- 
ent environments,  children's  misunderstandings  will,  of 
course,  be  found  along  diflEerent  lines;  we  must,  however, 
be  on  our  guard  against  them  everywhere. 

Here  the  significance  of  the  true  kindergarten  is  evident. 
It  helps  the  child  to  gain  true  and  clear  concepts,  thru  sense 
training,  and  thus  to  develop  his  inner  life. 

The  counterpart  of  the  Frobelian  principle  mentioned  be- 
fore, viz.,  of  internalizing  the  external,  is  the  opposite  prin- 
ciple of  externalizing  the  internal.  In  other  words  there  are 
forces  in  tlie  child's  soul  constantly  striving  for  expression. 
Indeed,  if  man  were  but  receptive,  he  were  not  man.  What 
makes  life  LIFE,  is  activity — such  an  activity  as  corresponds 
to  our  individual  character,  which  is  an  expression  of  our  na- 
ture and  being.  Without  activity,  we  were  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  as  good  as  dead.  True,  even  the  ordinary  school 
affords  opportunities  for  self-expression  in  the  various 
branches  of  school  work.  But  this  opportunity  is  often  based 
upon  an  adult  standard  and  upon  adult  methods,  apart  from 
the  fact  that  it  deals  largely  with  symbols  of  things,  instead 
of  with  realities.  It  is  the  great  service  of  the  kindergarten 
that  it  has  recognized  the  demand  that  a  child  must  be  meas- 
ured by  a  standard  of  his  own,  and  that  the  young  child  needs 
opportunity  for  concrete  expression — for  muscular  activity. 
The  various  occupations  of  the  kindergarten  have  been  de- 
vised to  meet  this  need.  And  they  partake  of  the  nature  of 
play,  in  this  manner  corresponding  to  a  natural  instinct  which 
deserves  much  more  recognition  in  the  school  curriculum 
than  is  usually  accorded  to  it.  In  this  sense  the  gifts  and  occu- 
pations answer  practically  the  same  purpose;  and  while  they 
are  in  the  nature  of  expressive  work,  thru  building,  weaving, 
modeling,  etc.,  they  also  serve  the  reverse  purpose  of  medi- 
ating innumerable  experiences  as  to  material,  form,  color, 
tools,  etc.,  which  in  their  turn  complete  the  internalizing  of 
the  external.  Thus  there  is  mutuality  of  effort  and  effect; 
impressions  strive  for  expression,  and  expression  converts  it- 


30        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

self  into  experience. 

Said  Mrs.  Kraus-Bolte,  a  veteran  of  the  kindergarten  in 
this  country,  "Play  thus  rightly  understood,  proves  itself  a 
means  of  assisting  the  inner  growth  of  the  child,  independent 
of  formal  instruction.  Self-seeing,  self-hearing,  self-making, 
self -experience,  self-thinking — these  are  the  activities  of  the 
child,  and  rightly  developed,  they  are  associated  with  happi- 
ness, gayety  and  joyouMiess." 

Again,  in  their  representative,  or  if  you  will,  dramatic, 
games,  the  children  are  introduced  to  the  various  typical  oc- 
cupations of  man,  and  learn  to  appreciate  the  part  each  indi- 
vidual pursuit  plays  in  the  network  of  human  civilization  and 
service.  The  games  of  the  shoemaker,  of  the  blacksmith  and 
others,  never  fail  to  arouse  the  children's  interest  and 
to  satisfy  their  natural  imitativeness  of  adult  ways.  Chil- 
dren of  this  age  want  to  be  and  do  all  they  see  their  elders 
be  and  do.  It  is  well  to  take  advantage  of  this  natural  in- 
stinct so  as  to  widen  the  child's  circle  of  experience. 

Other  games  are  intended,  not  so  much  to  dramatize  hu- 
man existence,  as  to  symbolize  the  life  of  nature.  These 
rarely  fail  to  personify  the  forces  of  nature,  and  so  to  estab- 
lish a  personal,  sympathetic  relaticm  between  the  child  and 
the  so-called  dumb  creation.  When  this  method  is  not  viti- 
ated by  over-sentimentalism,  it  corresponds  with  a  natural 
instinct.  Thus,  the  rain  comes  down  to  the  great  brown 
house  where  the  flowers  dwell;  or  the  alder  by  the  river 
shakes  out  her  powd'ry  curls;  the  pretty  little  violets  are 
waking  from  their  sleep ;  the  child  asks  of  pussy-willow,  the 
pretty  little  thing,  where  it  is  it  comes  from,  how  it  is  it 
grows ;  he  sympathizes  with  the  chilly  little  chickadees  buried 
in  the  snow;  and  after  an  imaginary  walk  thru  field  and 
lane,  the  little  boy  runs  home  to  mama  to  tell  her:  I  saw  so 
many  things! 

While  all  these  plays  serve  to  stimulate  observa- 
tion and  to  arouse  the  sense  of  consanguinity  of  man  with 
all  things  alive;  while  further  they  are  of  inestimable  value 
for  the  awakening  of  moral  feelings  in  these  young  hearts — 
they  have  also  quite  another  significance.  There  is  a  deeper 
cause  for  the  pleasure  the  child  takes  in  this  immediate  com- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        31 

munion  with  nature,  in  identifying  himself  with  animals  and 
flowers.  I  quote  from  the  study  of  Profs.  Hall  and  Allin 
on  "The  Psychology  of  Tickling,  Laughing,  and  of  the  Com- 
ic" (American  Journal  of  Psychology  ix.,  i)  as  follows  to 
illustrates  this  point :  "The  antics  of  animals  are  a  source  of 
great  amusement  to  children.  They  pull  down  the  corners 
of  the  eyes  and  pull  the  mouth  open,  put  their  hands  to  their 
ears,  crawl  like  snakes,  root  like  pigs,  fly  like  birds,  swim  like 
fish,  catch  and  devour  prey,  make  faces,  wear  animal  masks, 
form  shadow  pictures,  watch  animals  and  laugh  at  and  per- 
haps imitate  their  every  movement,  personate  trick  animals. 

.  .  .  Some  children  desired  to  be,  and  others  thought 
they  were  becoming  some  favorite  animal.  They  play  that 
they  have  claws,  trunks,  tails,  tusks,  big  teeth  and  eyes,  drink 
or  sleep,  walk,  play,  like  animals.  Games  that  involve  catch- 
ing or  grabbing  are  often  very  mimetic  of  animals,  and  are 
always  hilarious.  The  element  of  suddenness,  too,  often 
intensifies  this  factor.  The  wearing  of  animal  masks  of 
great  variety  has  always  been  a  source  of  great  pleasure  for 
children,  and  even  plays  a  very  important  part  in  the  games 
and  ceremonials  of  the  Chinese,  most  European  folk-lore  and 
amusements,  in  mediaeval  revels,  and  in  savage  dances.  Pin- 
ning on  tales,  ears,  horns,  feathers,  mane,  wings,  going  on  all 
fours,  enacting  the  animal  poses  that  have  come  down  to  us 
from  the  middle  ages  and  from  remote  antiquity,  with  the  aid 
of  these  accoutrements  suggest  .  .  .  that  children  must 
approximate  the  animal  consciousness  by  these  devices.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  long  struggle  of  man  with  the  other  ani- 
mals for  survival  and  supremacy,  the  history  of  domestication, 
the  folk-lore  and  religion  of  totemism  show  us  what  a  role 
animals  have  played  in  human  fear,  reverence,  and  even  love 
in  the  past." 

This  reflection  shows  that  the  child  of  kindergarten  age 
represents  a  particular  stage  in  mental  development,  one 
which  cannot  be  immediately  compared  with  the  adult  stage, 
but  which,  broadly  speaking,  corresponds  to  an  epoch  in  the 
history  of  civilization  when  our  race  was  yet  just  beginning 
to  be  humanized,  i.  e.  differentiated  from  the  lower  crea- 
tion.   The  kindergarten  child  exhibits  the  instincts  and  facul- 


32        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

ties  characteristic  of  the  dawn  of  civilization.  He  is,  so  to 
speak,  yet  half  way  between  animal  and  man,  or  if  you  will, 
in  his  mental  disposition  savage-like,  which  does  not  neces- 
sarily mean  that  he  is  savagely  vicious.  We  must  use  the 
term  savage  without  reproach — merely  to  indicate  an  unde- 
veloped state  of  mind.  There  will  be  further  occasion,  in 
later  chapters  of  this  volume,  to  dwell  on  this  point,  which 
is  fundamental  in  an  intelligent  dealing  with  children. 

It  is  due  to  the  kindergarten  that  this  condition  has  been 
recognized  in  the  work  of  the  school,  at  least  as  far  as  the 
pre-elementary  child  is  concerned.  This  alone  is  a  far-reach- 
ing reform.  It  is  thru  the  kindergarten  that  we  have  been 
awakened  to  a  sense  of  the  tremendous  opportunities  which 
are  offered  to  the  educator  in  these  tender  years  of  the  child 
which  previously  were  regarded  as  more  or  less  useless,  so 
that  parents  and  teachers  co-operated  to  abbreviate  them  as 
much  as  possible  and  to  drive  the  child  headlong  towards 
precocious  development.  Now  we  know  that  these  are  the 
most  precious  years  in  the  life  of  the  child,  and  that  upon 
their  successful  turning  to  account  depends  the  future  health 
and  maturity  of  body  and  mind. 

It  is  instructive  to  read  what  former  Indian  Commissioner 
Jones  said  in  one  of  his  reports:  "It  is  sometimes  stated  in 
the  public  prints  and  by  those  who  should  be  better  informed, 
that  the  present  method  of  educating  the  Indian  is  a  failure, 
because,  as  set  forth,  the  pupils  after  receiving  the  advantages 
of  a  government  schooling,  and  living  for  years  in  its  moral 
associations,  return  home  and  take  up  the  blanket  and  breech 
clout,  and  relapse  into  the  customs  and  manners  of  their 
parents.  This  is  true  in  some  cases,  but  on  the  other  hand, 
many  of  these  children  enter  into  agricultural  pursuits  and 
take  up  trades,  and  become  an  important  adjunct  in  the  work 
of  civilizing  their  brethren. 

"The  hope  of  the  Indian  race  lies  in  taking  the  child  at 
the  tender  age  of  4  or  5  years,  before  the  trend  of  his  mind 
becomes  fixed  in  ancient  moulds  or  bent  by  whims  of  his 
parents,  and  guiding  it  into  the  proper  channel.  Children 
who  have  thus  early  been  placed  under  the  influence  of  the 
school  show  a  percentage  of  success  equal  to,  or  greater  than 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        33 

that  which  attends  the  public  schools  of  any  great  nation  of 
the  world  which  draws  its  material  from  the  slums.  A 
greater  percentage  of  the  latter  sink  back  into  the  degrada- 
tion of  their  parents  and  revert  to  the  life  froni  which  they 
were  taken,  than  do  the  Indian  boys  and  girls  who  have  re- 
ceived proper  training  in  the  Indian  schools". 

There  is  another  aspect  of  this  evolution  of  the  child  from 
the  savage  state  to  one  of  maturity.  By  the  undeveloped 
mind,  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect  is  but  dimly  recog- 
nized. Imaginary  causes  are  substituted  for  real  causes,  and 
a  mere  semblance  becomes  the  symbol  of  reality.  Thus  the 
kindergarten  child  lives  in  a  symbolical  world  where  every- 
thing has  strange  meanings  and  may  be  converted,  in  a  mo- 
ment, into  some  other  thing,  or  be  endowed  with  mysterious 
powers. 

An  application  of  this  fact  of  evolution  may  be  made, 
briefly,  upon  the  religious  training  of  the  young  child.  It 
has  become  customary  in  many  places  to  make  the  kinder- 
garten contributary  to  the  Sunday  school  as  it  were,  by  trying 
to  inculcate  the  lofty  ideals  of  a  refined  religion  in  the  young 
soul.  If  we  remember  that  the  kindergarten  child  has  prac- 
tically the  instincts  and  the  reasoning  power  of  a  barbarian, 
that  he  is  steeped  in  nature  worship,  animalism,  and  fetichism, 
we  shall  realize  that  these  attempts  must  necessarily  end 
disastrously  and  produce,  instead  of  a  wholesome  sense  of 
reverence,  rather  a  grotesque  caricature  of  religion.  Particu- 
larly, such  ideas  as  the  omnipresence,  omnipotence,  and  om- 
niscience of  God  are  far  beyond  the  grasp  of  young  children. 
Many  instructive  investigations  have  been  made  in  this  direc- 
tion years  ago.  (Cf.  Sully,  "The  Child's  Religious  Ideas  and 
Religious  Teaching",  Pop.  Science  Monthly,  Jan.,  1895. — 
Barnes,  "Theological  Life  of  a  California  Child,"  Pedagog- 
ical Seminary,  Dec,  1893. — "Notes  on  the  Theological  De- 
velopment of  a  Child,"  Arena,  Feb.,  1898,  Crisman. — "Re- 
ligious Periods  in  Child  Growth",  Educ.  Review,  June,  1898, 
and  many  others.)  Here  is  a  little  story  which  may  be 
considered  significant:  A  little  Pennsylvanian  was  sitting 
on  the  floor  playing  with  his  blocks.  Presently  he  looked 
up  at  his  mother  and  asked:     "Ma,  can  God  see  every- 


34        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

thing?"  "Everything,  Harry."  He  returned  to  his  blocks 
again,  but  evidently  did  not  drop  the  subject  from  his 
thoughts  for  he  soon  asked :  "Can  he  see  the  back  of  his  own 
neck?"     (Reported  in  the  Child  Study  Monthly.) 

Can  it  be  assumed  that  conceptions  and  reasonings  such 
as  this  are  conducive  to  genuine  religiosity? 

There  are  other  fundamental  principles  of  early  educa- 
tion which  have  received  their  first  comprehensive  and  sys- 
tematic recognition  in  and  thru  the  kindergarten. 

There  is  music  which  does  not  only  add  so  much  to  the 
cheerfulness  of  the  kindergarten,  but  which,  in  its  rhythmical 
movement,  corresponds  to  a  deep-rooted  want  of  the  youthful 
soul  and  body.  Life  is  in  its  very  essence  rhythmical,  and 
whatever  chimes  with  this  rhythm  or  stimulates  it,  will 
necessarily  enhance  the  sense  of  life,  its  vigor,  and  functional 
intensity.  And  by  way  of  the  sweet  strain  of  song,  the 
beauty  of  harmony  and  measure  is  awakened  in  the  child,  his 
soul  is  being  uplifted  to  nobler  aspirations,  his  activity  is  de- 
veloped to  be  a  power  for  good — to  let  him  be  a  builder  of 
ideals.  Music's  effect  upon  the  child — as  well  as  upon  grown 
men  and  women — is  truly  magical,  and  is  being  more  and 
more  recognized  as  an  educational  force. 

And  then  there  is  the  story.  The  child,  as  well  as  primi- 
tive man,  revels  in  stories  which  appeal  to  his  imagination 
and  stimulate  thought  and  action.  In  the  myths  and  fairy 
tales,  the  child  is  initiated  to  a  primitive  world  conception 
which  is  as  typical  and  simple,  as  it  is  grand  and  poetic,  and 
which  corresponds  closely  to  his  own  understanding  of  the 
forces  manifesting  themselves  to  his  experience.  This  is  per- 
haps a  safer  way  toward  the  awakening  of  true  religious  feel- 
ings than  attempting  to  cast  their  immature  minds  at  once  in 
the  modern  religious  mould. 

Further,  there  is  little  that  appeals  more  to  the  child  than 
genuine  poetry — not  made  up  rhymes  and  ditties  so  much 
as  genuine  poetry,  such  as  is  eternal,  typical,  great,  coming 
from  master  minds  of  our  race,  whose  intuitive  understand- 
ing of  the  fundamental  truths  and  cravings  have  enabled 
them  to  touch  adult  and  babe  alike  with  the  divine  spark. 
And  again,  poetry  that  is  epic  rather  than  reflective,  that  deals 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD         35 

with  doings  rather  than  with  sentiments.  For  the  child  is 
supremely  interested  in  action  and  has  very  little  patience 
or  understanding  for  fine  emotions.  He  may  feel  them  but 
he  cannot  analyze  them  or  reflect  upon  them.  Poetical  form 
also  satisfies  the  rhythmic  tendency  and  lends  itself  gracefully 
to  musical  treatment.  Music  was  perhaps  the  first  art  of  our 
race,  and  poetry  its  first  literature. 

The  kindergarten  age  is  the  language-making  age  of  the 
child's  life.  He  learns  language  readily  by  imitation,  by  ab- 
sorption, by  instinct.  This  age  repeats  the  epoch  in  the  his- 
tory of  man  when  he  emerged  from  primitive  barbarism  and 
made  civilization  possible  by  the  creation  of  speech.  It  is  a 
pity  that  the  language-making  instinct  of  the  young  child  is 
as  yet  utilized  to  so  small  an  extent.  In  the  kindergarten 
the  child  could  easily  acquire  oral  facility  in  speaking  one 
or  several  languages  in  addition  to  his  mother  tongue,  as  is 
practically  illustrated  in  some  foreign  countries.  Even  if 
this  training  were  not  followed  up  in  the  succeeding  grades, 
various  beneficiary  results  can  be  obtained  in  this  manner. 
The  speech  centers  of  the  child  would  receive  a  most  help- 
ful stimulus  for  variegated  and  more  comprehensive  de- 
velopment such  as  cannot  be  got  from  the  one-sided  ex- 
perience of  the  mother  tongue  only.  And  what  was  once 
gained  will  never  be  entirely  lost.  Whenever  the  child 
should  later  take  up  anew  a  foreign  language,  there  will  be 
deep  down  in  the  recesses  of  his  brain  latent  associations 
which  will  awaken  under  the  new  impulses  and  the  child 
will  profit  from  the  stimulus  applied  to  the  language-making 
faculty  at  its  budding  time. 

Further,  there  is  a  methodical  element  of  vital  importance 
which  has  first  been  recognized  and  organically  developed 
in  the  kindergarten.  I  mean  the  principle  of  co-ordination, 
whose  significance  for  the  rational  organization  of  the  course 
of  instruction  will  be  discussed  in  another  chapter.  In  the 
kindergarten  all  the  work  is  related,  articulated,  organized. 
The  aim  is,  to  produce  so  far  as  possible  a  conceptual 
whole  in  the  mind  of  the  child.  Thus  there  is  a  central 
thought  selected,  e.  g.,  the  idea  of  shelter,  or  of  home  life, 
or  of  food,  or  of  protection,  around  which  all  the  activities 


36        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

of  the  children  are  grouped,  and  which  is  also  illustrated 
by  story,  song  and  game.  Unfortunately,  (or  fortu- 
nately?) the  child's  mind  is  not  capable  of  relating  every- 
thing to  a  central  thought,  as  it  lacks  the  faculty  of  abstrac- 
tion, and  the  child's  thinking  and  conceiving  are  fragmen- 
tary, touching  the  external  world  at  many  different  and  often 
wholly  unrelated  points.  To  restrict  him  to  such  things 
only  as  fit  in  with  the  "center  of  thought"  as  conceived  by 
the  adult,  means  a  narrowing  down  of  his  circle  of  experi- 
ence to  meet  the  requirements  of  an  abstract  theory,  with- 
out gaining  anything  on  the  side  of  depth,  or  intensity.  There 
is  no  harm  in  letting  the  child  pick  up  his  information  and 
experience  at  random ;  there  is  a  whole  life  before  him  when 
he  may  convert  the  loose  threads  into  a  skilful  fabric,  and 
work  out  a  unification  of  his  concepts.  To  do  that  com- 
pletely is  the  criterion  of  the  master's  mind,  and  few,  if  any, 
attain  to  this  glory.  The  principle  of  co-ordination  has 
frequently  been  carried  to  extremes.  Even  one  of  our  fore- 
most representatives  of  the  kindergarten  movement.  Miss 
Susan  E.  Blow,  as  early  as  in  the  year  1898,  "objected"  to 
the  practice  more  or  less  prevalent  of  making  the  gift  exer- 
cises illustrate  some  selected  idea — or  "center  of  thought" 
for  the  week  or  month,  such  as  the  Flower-casket,  the  Car- 
penter, or  Hiawatha,  and  "requiring  each  child  to  repeat  the 
same  illustration,"  to  the  entire  sacrifice  of  Frobel's  idea  of 
self-expression. 

Here  for  the  first  time  we  have  touched  upon  a  point 
where  the  prevailing  practice  of  the  kindergarten  seems  to 
be  in  need  of  revision.  Indeed  the  kindergartner  has  never 
been  free  from  criticism,  more  or  less  intelligent  and  fair, 
but  often  pertinent,  and  it  is  well  to  consider  a  few  of  these 
in  order  to  arrive  at  a  clearer  understanding  of  what  may 
be  done  towards  developing  the  kindergarten  idea  in  a  ra- 
tional manner. 

No  time  need  be  wasted  on  discussing  the  ignorant  criti- 
cism that  the  kindergarten  is  merely  a  play-school,  by  which 
is  meant  that  it  has  no  value  at  all.  But  more  weight  must 
be  attached  to  the  contention  that  the  kindergarten  usurps 
die  functions  of  the  home,  and  that  children  of  that  age 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        37 

belong  pr(^)erly  to  the  family.  It  cannot  be  denied  that 
much  of  Frobel's  teachings  have  no  reference  at  all  to  a 
school-like  kindergarten  such  as  we  are  accustomed  to  call 
by  this  name,  but  to  the  early  educationary  efforts  of  the 
mother  in  the  home.  Thus,  the  ingeniously  beautiful  "Mut- 
ter-und-Koselieder"  are  not  intended  for  the  kindergarten 
pupil,  as  their  very  name  signifies,  but  as  a  help  towards  the 
proper  training  of  the  youngest  babes.  Much  of  the  ma- 
terial suggested  for  an  earlier  stage  has  indeed  been  usurped 
by  the  kindergarten,  tho  surely  in  a  well-intentioned  way, 
and  because  it  was  in  reality  not  used  in  the  family  at  all; 
just  as  primary  classes  will  not  infrequently  make  use  of 
kindergarten  material  tho  this  is  not  at  all  suited,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  to  the  next  higher  stage  of  the  child's  de- 
velopment. 

We  may  even  maintain,  with  some  degree  of  justice,  that 
the  proper  application  of  the  kindergarten  methods  would 
seem  to  make  a  grouping  of  a  relatively  few  children  together, 
in  the  home  circle,  if  you  please,  or  by  the  co-operation  of  a 
few  families  standing  in  friendly  relations  towards  one  an- 
other, preferable  to  a  massing  and  mixing  of  large  numbers. 
In  this  respect,  certain  modifications  of  the  present  practice 
may  eventually  commend  themselves  to  us.  But  surely,  there 
is  a  place  for  the  kindergarten  as  such,  as  a  connecting  link  be- 
tween the  home  and  what  is  called  the  school  proper.  Small 
groups,  especially  such  as  are  based  upon  the  family  circle, 
foster  one-sidedness  and  exclusiveness,  and  even  young  chil- 
dren need  the  friction  afforded  by  larger  company  and  com- 
petition. On  the  other  side,  in  the  practice  of  the  best  kin- 
dergartens much  has  already  been  done  to  break  up  the 
unwieldy  mass  of  children  into  well-matched  groups  of  man- 
ageable size. 

The  more  noteworthy  criticisms  refer  to  the  routine  of 
the  kindergarten  itself.  Its  very  perfection  and  detailed  or- 
ganization have  caused  it  to  become  more  formal  and  rigid 
than  is  consistent  with  wholesome  growth.  There  is  a 
certain  dogmatism  about  it  all,  and  the  gifts  and  occupations 
no  more  than  the  games  and  songs  have  become  more  and 
more  stereotyped.     This  is  utterly  averse  to  the  spirit  of 


38        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

Frobel,  whose  main  appeal  was  for  natural  growth.  If 
he  suggested  a  certain  series  of  exercises  and  embodied  his 
thought  in  certain  forms,  it  was  because  these  were  at  the 
time  the  method  most  suitable,  in  his  estimation,  to  express 
his  ideas.  But  his  experience  was  limited,  and  his  psychology 
but  rudimentary.  His  great  principles  remain  essentially 
unchanged  and  will  forever  guide  us;  the  form  in  which  he 
attempted  to  embody  them,  the  manner  in  which  he  applied 
them  in  his  practice,  are  necessarily  transitory.  Those  kin- 
dergartners  who  have,  in  their  admiration  for  the  perman- 
ent glory  of  the  new  gospel  of  the  kindergarten,  elevated  its 
form  in  all  its  details  into  a  dogma,  have  become  slaves  of 
the  letter  and  have  lost  the  spirit. 

The  stereotyped  character  of  the  present  kindergarten  prac- 
tice as  found  in  many  places  has  worked  against  the  natural 
instincts  of  the  children,  the  very  ones  it  was  intended  to 
foster. 

Very  severely  expressed  was  the  judgment  of  the  well- 
known  Italian  educationist  Guiseppe  Sergi,  who  said  in  his 
book  "Education  ed  Instruzione"  (reviewed  in  "Pedag.  Sem- 
inary," II.,  437) :  "It  seems  to  me  that  this  (Frobelian) 
method  when  it  is  a  question  of  teaching  things  and  of  giv- 
ing ideas  of  things,  is  false,  because  in  reality  real  things  are 
not  presented  before  the  children  for  them  to  know,  but 
figures  of  things;  in  other  words,  simulation  is  substituted 
for  reality,  figures  and  semblance  of  things  are  substituted 
for  real  things, — natural  and  artificial,  or,  in  more  general 
terms,  the  abstract  for  the  concrete.  I  call  simulation  those 
artifices  which  are  wont  to  be  made  with  the  hands  and 
with  objects  to  represent  natural  things,  e.  g.,  animals,  or 
artificial  things,  e.  g.,  a  temple,  a  house,  etc.,  by  means  of 
sticks  and  bits  of  wood  combined  when  the  children  ought 
to  be  shown  the  real  things,  in  order  that  they  may  begin 
to  have  exact  ideas  of  these — Suggestion  in  education  has  its 
limits.  At  an  age  when  mental  activity  is  in  process  of  de- 
velopment, certain  procedures  may  have  grave  and  danger- 
ous results — the  brain  continually  waiting  for  new  sugges- 
tions after  the  first,  may  be  arrested  and  remain  in  habitual 
inertia     .     .     .     the  result  of  hindering  proper  functional 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        39 

development.  The  Frobelian  method  is  weighed  down  by 
these  defects,  for,  while  seemingly  desiring  to  allow  liberty 
and  independence  of  mental  activity  in  children,  in  reality  it 
suppresses  them.  In  the  use  of  games  and  plays  suggested 
or  made  by  the  instructors,  and  of  which  the  children  are 
merely  the  automatic  executors,  the  same  method  of  sugges- 
tion continues,  which  ruins  the  natural  development  of  the 
children,  tends  to  equalize  them  all  and  to  abolish  all  initia- 
tive and  individuality —  Thruout  Frobelianism  there  is  the 
symbol  which  destroys  methodical  and  natural  development. 
.  .  .  Instead  of  its  being  said  that  the  activity  of  the 
children  is  manifested  in  plays,  as  Frobel  declared,  we  ought 
to  say  rather,  that  marionettism  and  refined  automatism 
destroy  the  spontaneous  activity  of  the  children." 

This  scathing  denunciation  of  the  kindergarten  has  been 
quoted  not  because  it  is  considered  a  just  criticism  of  Fro- 
bel's  system,  but  because  it  shows  how  a  vicious  and  unen- 
lightened practice,  represented  by  those  who  undertake  to  in- 
troduce a  new  idea  while  being  themselves  steeped  in  the 
old,  will  turn  reformatory  measures  into  their  very  opposite. 
It  seems  plain  that  the  kindergartens  observed  by  Prof.  Sergi 
had  only  Frobel's  letter,  not  his  spirit. 

As  it  often  happens,  the  disciples  of  a  great  teacher  over- 
do what  they  conceive  to  be  his  teachings,  and  are  apt  to 
carry  his  system  to  extremes.  This  is  surely  true  of  Frobel's 
gifts  to  which  a  sentimental  and  overstrained  philosophy  has 
attributed  many  more  secret  and  mysterious  virtues  than 
Frobel  himself  may  have  dared  to  dream  of.  Educationally 
questionable  as  his  mathematical  type-forms  may  appear  to 
the  unbiased  mind,  they  have  not  escaped  this  overstraining 
process. 

There  seems  to  have  been  a  stage  in  the  artistic  develop- 
ment of  many  peoples,  when  the  mind  conceived  of  life  forms 
in  mathematical,  or  specifically  geometrical,  symbols.  The 
decorative  motives  of  primitive  tribes,  picture  writing,  animal 
mounds,  etc.,  give  ample  proof  of  this.  Similarly  there  may 
be  a  tendency  among  young  children  to  image  in  geometrical 
symbols.  The  fact  is  that  many  children  delight  in  recogniz- 
ing life  forms  which  are  presented  to  them  in  geometrical  dis- 


40        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

guise.  Yet  the  question  is  whether  they  can  be  expected  to 
create  their  own  mathematical  symbols,  or  whether  it  is  ad- 
visable to  force  the  symbolism  of  the  gifts  so  extensively  upon 
them.  The  primitive  artistic  creations  mentioned  above  were 
apparently  due  to  the  first  awakening,  in  the  mental  evolu- 
tion of  the  race,  to  appreciation  of  form  as  such,  of  sym- 
metry, and  of  geometrical  relations.  Geometry  was  the  first 
of  the  exact  sciences  to  be  systematized  by  the  ancients.  But 
after  all,  the  parallelism  between  the  evolution  of  the  race 
and  that  of  the  individual  can  not  be  carried  so  far  as  to  make 
us  overlook  that  primitive  artists  were,  after  all,  adults  living 
in  primitive  environment,  while  our  children  are  modern  hu- 
man beings,  children  tho  they  be.  Mathematical  form  is  surely 
an  abstraction  probably  beyond  the  comprehension  of  the 
young  child.  Besides  some  of  the  apparently  geometrical  sym- 
bols of  primitive  art  may  not  have  been  conceived  as  such  by 
their  creators,  but  were  simply  the  result  of  immature  skill, 
while  we  modems,  with  our  mathematically  trained  eyes, 
imagine  to  recognize  mathematical  conceptions. 

While  it  is  certainly  true  that  the  kindergarten  child  lives 
in  the  symbolic  stage,  it  is  open  to  doubt  whether  the  mathe- 
matical symbolism  as  represented  by  the  sphere,  cube,  and 
cylinder,  has  much  value  in  early  education. 

Just  as  the  stereotyped  gifts  are  open  to  criticism  as  long 
as  they  are  claimed  to  be  the  only,  or  the  best  suited  means 
for  the  development  of  the  young  soul,  the  character  of  the 
occupations  has  also  been  exposed  to  severe  censure.  Some  of 
these  strictures  are  excessive  and  unjust. 

Yet  there  is  much  justification  in  the  demand  for  a 
revision  of  the  occupations  as  generally  practiced.  President 
G.  Stanley  Hall  finds  that  much  of  the  work  done  in  the 
kindergarten  is  not  at  all  suited  to  the  nature  of  the  little 
child,  referring  particularly  to  paper  weaving  with  narrow 
paper  strips,  pricking,  bead  work,  stick  laying  with  tooth 
picks,  and  in  general  all  occupations  with  small  articles.  Ex- 
periments have  brought  out  the  fact  that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  kindergarten  pupils  had  neurotic  diseases  brought  on 
and  developed  by  this  kind  of  work.  In  "A  Preliminary 
Study  of  Motor  Ability",  in  Pedag.  Semin.,  in.,  i.,  John  H. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        41 

Hancock  recorded  some  instructive  tests  which  were  under- 
taken to  examine  into  the  children's  ability  to  do  the  regu- 
lation work  of  the  kindergarten.  A  pattern  found  in  most 
kindergarten  guides  consists  of  four  slats  interlaced.  This 
was  taken  for  a  test,  using  slats  8  inches  long  and  Yz  inch 
wide.  Four  were  taken  and  interlaced  before  the  children, 
and  left  so  for  them  to  see;  four  others  were  then  given  to 
each  child  and  the  children  were  asked  to  interlace  them. 
The  slats  were  interlaced  a  second  or  even  a  third  time  before 
the  children,  yet  but  one  child,  a  girl  of  six,  succeeded ; 
nine  copied  the  figure,  the  remaining  fifty  failed  wholly.  The 
ages  ranged  from  5  to  7.  "I  am  not  at  present  concerned," 
says  the  experimenter,  "with  the  effect  of  training  on  the  abil- 
ity of  children  to  make  these  movements,  but  rather  with  the 
problem,  what  is  the  period  of  development  of  function  in  the 
nerve  centers  controlling  the  finer  muscles  concerned  in  deli- 
cate co-ordinations.  Evidently  for  these  children  it  is  only 
beginning.  Fifty-six  boys  were  asked  to  thread  a  large 
needle;  fifty  succeeded,  but  only  after  two  or  three  efforts; 
six  failed,  tho  given  extra  large  needles  and  more  time.  It 
was  evidently  new  to  most  of  them.  After  the  first  trial 
there  was  in  many  cases  apparent  a  feeling  of  nervousness". 

Of  course  there  is  a  reason  for  these  effects.  This  rea- 
son is  to  be  found  in  the  natural  order  of  development  of 
control  and  co-ordination  of  movement  in  the  child.  This 
»rder  is  quite  generally  disregarded  in  the  ordinary  practice 
of  the  kindergarten  owing  to  the  mistaken  idea  that  little  chil- 
dren must  do  little  things.  The  fact  is  that  little  children 
will  do  crude  things,  and  that  their  scale  must  be  compara- 
tively large.  To  insist  upon  accurate  adjustments  will  neces- 
sarily result  in  failure,  or  in  injury  to  the  child.  On  the 
whole,  the  child's  development  does  not  follow  what  we  may 
call  a  logical  order,  but  it  complies  with  the  laws  of  growth, 
which  are  biological,  not  logical.     Says  Mr.  Hancock: 

"The  order  of  development  of  control  is  evidently,  body, 
shoulder,  arm,  forearm,  and  hand.  In  the  hand  control  the 
index  finger  differentiates  between  that  of  the  others.     .     .     . 

.  Kindergarten  work  is  usually  too  fine.  Too  great  pre- 
cision, involving  delicate  and  complex  co-ordinations  in  past- 


42        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

ing,  weaving,  folding,  pricking  and  sewing  is  insisted  on. 
Occupations  and  games  for  young  children  should  be  of  a 
nature  that  will  involve  large  muscles  and  movements." 

And  F.  Burk,  in  his  valuable  study,  "The  Development 
of  the  Nervous  System"  (Pedag.  Semin.  vi.,  i)  has  diis  to 
say: 

"If  infants  first  learned  to  make  the  simple  reflexes,  and 
this  step  performed,  they  proceeded  to  combine  these  elements 
into  new  unities  and  so  on,  we  would  have  a  logical 
order  to  retrace.  But  there  are  few  evidences  either  in  in- 
fancy or  in  later  childhood  of  such  steps  from  the  logically 
simple  to  the  complex.  .  .  .  Several  other  hand  move- 
ments could  be  more  or  less  definitely  traced,  commencing  in 
the  infant  with  complex  reflexes,  inexplicable  as  yet  upon  any 
theory  except  that  of  evolutionary  origin  and  developing  into 
human  forms  by  modifications  and  additions  that  show  no 
trace  of  logical  arrangement.  .  .  .Nor  do  all  these  com- 
plex but  original  co-ordinations  appear  immediately  at  birth. 
They  are  scattered  along  thru  infancy  and  childhood  sugges- 
tively corresponding  to  the  development  by  distinct  parts 
observed  in  the  growth  of  the  nervous  system.     .     .     . 

"We  may  sum  up  the  matter  of  accuracy:  (i)  that  as  a 
primary  condition  which  makes  accuracy  of  hand  and  arm 
possible,  the  child  must  have  a  matured  degree  of  control  un- 
der directions  of  his  higher  level  centers  (i.  e.  voluntary). 
The  fact  that  this  maturity  is  not  reached,  normally,  until 
the  ninth  or  tenth  year,  makes  questionable  the  efforts  of  the 
school  to  compel  accuracy  such  as  is  required  by  the  kinder- 
garten, and  also  by  the  primary  school  in  writing,  weaving, 
etc.  (2)  That  the  ability  to  be  accurate  in  hand  and  finger 
movements  increases  very  materially  during  school  ages.  ( 3 ) 
That  accuracy  depends  indirectly  upon  the  development  of 
the  body  as  a  whole,  the  steadiness  of  the  trunk  muscles  being 
as  essential  as  the  accuracy  of  hand  or  finger  movements 
themselves.  .  .  .  (4)  That  steadiness  of  the  trunk  or 
central  movements  (fundamental)  necessarily  precede  ability 
to  be  accurate  in  peripheral  (or  accessory)  movements". 
.  .  .  (It  should  be  stated  in  fairness  to  progressive 
kindergartners  that  much  has  already  been  done  in  the  best 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        43 

kindergartens  of  this  country  to  effect  a  rational  modification 
of  the  existing  practice.) 

There  is  then  to  be  a  new  adjustment  of  Frobel's  thought 
to  the  needs  and  conditions  of  the  child  as  revealed  by  the 
later  researches  into  child  nature.  The  laws  of  growth  must 
be  the  governing  laws  in  our  dealings  with  the  children,  and 
the  kindergarten  itself  must  reflect  these  laws  in  its  own 
constitution  by  liberating  itself  from  dogmatism,  so  as  to 
breathe  anew  the  air  of  freedom  wherein  alone  there  is 
healthy  development.  Let  us  cast  Frobel's  immortal  thoughts 
into  new  and  nobler  forms,  such  as  will  never  again  become 
rigid  and  stereotyped,  but  will  change  and  expand  and  ma- 
ture as  our  own  conceptions  of  child-life  change  and  expand 
and  mature.  The  very  words  of  Frobel  will  inspire  and 
guide  us  herein.  Says  he:  "The  fall  from  childhood's  para- 
dise begins  painfully  early  in  these  modern  times.  .  .  . 
By  forcing  the  child  out  of  his  unconsciousness,  by  demanding 
of  him  reflection,  by  checking  the  joy  of  his  receptiveness,  by 
too  much  teaching,  we  spoil  the  divine  teaching  of  God  and 
Nature.  .  .  .  Let  the  child  remain  for  a  time  ignorant 
of  himself,  live  naturally,  and  drink  in  his  wisdom  and  his 
religion  which  God  makes  play  around  him.  Make  the 
bridge  from  the  cradle  to  manhood  just  as  long  as  you  can, 
leaving  the  child  as  a  child  as  long  as  possible,  not  forcing 
him  into  premature  development  by  intelligence  or  by  any- 
thing else.  Let  him  be  a  child  and  not  a  little  ape  or  a  man 
running  about  town." 

And  it  is  well  to  understand  that  in  the  Kindergarten  age 
no  less  than  in  other  ages,  the  individual  condition  and 
need  of  a  child  must  be  the  first  consideration.  What  is  best 
for  one  child  may  be  injurious  for  another.  Says  Dr.  Isaac 
A.  Abt,  a  specialist  in  children's  diseases,  in  a  recent  article: 
(An  Inquiry  into  the  Status  of  the  Kindergarten.  Archives 
of  Pediatrics,  April,  1909.)  "In  the  final  analysis  we  are 
forced  to  the  conclusion  as  indeed  one  cannot  fail  to  have 
been  thruout  the  discussion,  that  each  child  must  be  con- 
sidered as  an  individual.  In  other  words,  the  desirability 
of  the  kindergarten  depends  upon  the  state  of  health  of  the 
child,  the  qualifications  of  the  teacher,  the  disposition  and 


44        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

capacity  of  the  mother,  the  environment  of  the  home  and  the 
equipment  of  the  kindergarten." 

As  a  closing  thought  to  this,  the  following  consideration  is 
suggested.  The  kindergarten,  as  was  affirmed  in  the  begin- 
ning, has  its  value  not  only  in  administering  to  the  peculiar 
needs  of  the  children  of  a  certain  age,  but  mainly  in  estab- 
lishing a  better  recognition  of  the  meaning  of  education 
generally.  The  principles  evolved  and  practiced  in  the  kin- 
dergarten are  fundamental  principles  and  must  be  understood 
as  regulating  all  our  educative  efforts,  thruout  all  the 
"grades"  of  the  school  no  less  than  in  the  home.  The  ideas 
of  objective  work,  of  constructive  activity,  of  "Learning  by 
Doing",  of  sense  training,  of  interrelation  and  co-ordination 
of  the  elements  of  instruction,  of  following  the  natural  steps 
in  the  gradual  unfolding  of  the  child's  soul  and  body,  etc., 
etc.,  must  pervade  the  entire  curriculum.  In  others  words,  it 
is  the  mission  of  the  kindergarten  to  leaven  the  whole  lump 
of  school  education  by  the  same  principles  which  gave  it 
birth;  to  emphasize  the  necessity  of  erecting  the  entire  edu- 
cational superstructure  on  the  kindergarten  foundations;  and 
while  varying  the  methods  employed  according  to  the  ages 
of  the  children,  to  apply  thruout  the  fundamental  thoughts 
of  Frobel.  Thus  the  kindergarten  will  be  but  the  basement 
story,  as  it  were,  of  a  larger  structure  devoted  in  its  en- 
tirety to  the  New  Education.  It  must  no  longer  be  a  separate 
branch  of  school  instruction,  distinctly  different  from  the 
rest,  and  patched  onto  the  routine  system — in  an  external, 
superficial  manner — but  it  must  set  the  pace,  it  must  point 
to  the  goal,  it  must  lead  the  way  to  better  things.  It  should 
teach  us  how  to  discover  the  child  wherever  he  is,  whether 
in  the  primary  classes  or  in  the  high  school.  It  should  ex- 
pand so  as  to  embrace  the  entire  school,  and  absorb  the  whole 
system  within  itself,  converting  it  into  one  large  KINDER- 
GARTEN. 


CHAPTER  III 

The  Principle  of  Co-ordination  of  Studies 

THE  term  "co-ordination  of  studies"  has  been  fre- 
quently used  to  designate  an  educational  prin- 
ciple which  has  reference  to  a  systematic  unifi- 
cation of  all  instructional  elements  in  the  school 
curriculum.  We  owe  the  suggestion  of  this  prin- 
ciple mainly  to  the  advocates  of  the  educational  philosophy 
of  the  great  German  thinker,  Friedrich  Herbart.  Herbart, 
however,  only  laid  the  psychological  foundation  of  what  is 
now  known  in  educational  history  as  the  "scientific  peda- 
gogy"; it  was  due  to  such  men  as  Ziller  and  Stoy  that  the 
new  movement  mapped  out  a  practical  system  of  school  edu- 
cation. Tuiscon  Ziller  and  his  followers  based  their  system 
and  course  of  instruction  on  a  "central  idea".  This  central 
idea  was  pre-eminently  an  ethical  one.  The  development  of 
the  moral  and  religious  character  of  the  pupil  was,  with 
them,  the  principal  aim  of  education.  In  their  endeavor  to 
group  all  the  different  studies  around  this  central  idea,  they 
advanced  the  theory  that  the  child  passes,  in  rapid  succes- 
sion, thru  a  series  of  mental  stages  which  represent,  in  an 
abbreviated  form,  the  various  epochs  in  the  evolution  of  the 
race. 

It  is  a  well-known  biological  law,  in  accordance  with  the 
theory  of  evolution,  that  the  physical  development  of  each 
living  being  is  a  repetition,  or  epitome,  of  all  stages  of  de- 
velopment thru  which  the  entire  series  of  its  ancestors  has 
passed,  so  that  the  differential  characteristics  of  the  species 
to  which  the  creature  belongs,  will  develop  last.  The  men- 
tal development  is  thought  to  be  good  and  by  the  same  law. 

45 


46        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

In  the  following  chapters  more  will  be  said  about  the  latest 
conception  of  this  "culture  epoch  theory",  which  has  also 
been  confronted  with  much  adverse  criticism.  Many,  or 
most,  of  the  author's  own  suggestions  will  be  based  upon 
a  revised  form  of  this  principle. 

With  their  "central  ethical  idea"  in  view,  and  considering 
that  this  race  development  is  recorded  in  such  studies  as 
Biblical  and  secular  history,  in  literature,  language,  etc.,  the 
educationists  of  the  Herbart-Ziller  school  grouped  their  en- 
tire course  of  instruction  around  these  literary  records  and 
the  thoughts  suggested  by  them,  disfranchising,  as  it  were, 
all  other  studies  by  making  them  subservient  to  this  princi- 
pal end.  The  leading  studies,  therefore,  which  supply  the 
effective  principle  of  co-ordination,  are  the  humanistic 
branches:  history,  literature,  dogmatic  religion,  and  lan- 
guage, which  form  the  central  group.  Such  studies  as  geo- 
graphy and  natural  science,  even  arithmetic,  are  grouped 
around  these  so  that  they  progress  in  close  connection  with, 
and  principally  directed  by,  the  religio—ethico-historical 
group.  This  is  what  Ziller  called  "concentration  of  in- 
struction." 

Much  might  be  said  by  way  of  criticism  of  this  concen- 
tration scheme  of  the  Herbartians  which  represents  an  er- 
roneous application  of  some  very  sound  educational  and  philo- 
sophical principles.  It  may  suffice  here  to  refer  briefly  to 
the  artificiality  of  a  plan  which  selects  certain  branches  as 
primary  to  which  all  others  are  forcibly  subordinated.  To 
constrain  the  entire  subject-matter  of  school  instruction,  geo- 
graphy, natural  history,  reading,  writing,  etc.,  into  an  un- 
natural dependence  on  ethico-historical  topics  which  are  sup- 
posed to  represent  eight  different  culture  periods  and  as 
many  different  epochs  in  the  child's  development,  or  school 
grades,  is  mere  pedantry.  Each  subject  of  instruction  has, 
to  some  extent,  an  independent  province,  with  laws,  aims, 
and  an  individual  life  and  organization  of  its  own  which 
must  be  respected. 

The  terms  "correlation" ,  "interrelation",  " co-ordination" i 
and  "concentration"  have  been  used  somewhat  indiscrimin- 
ately and  interchangeably  by  educationists.    Some  apply  the 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD         47 

term  "correlation"  as  a  collective,  or  general,  term,  and  then 
distinguish  "concentration",  in  the  Herbartian  sense,  as 
meaning  a  subordination  of  all  other  branches  to  the  so-called 
culture  studies;  "co-ordination",  as  meaning  the  arrange- 
ment of  all  studies  in  a  series  of  separate  but  co-ordinate 
groups  which  have  each  an  independent  value,  but  are  not 
only  correlated  with  one  another  so  as  to  produce  a  unity 
of  conception,  but  are  each  so  organized  that  in  each  a  cen- 
tral idea  controls  all  the  elements  therein  included.  Thus, 
Dr.  Harris,  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  devoted  Herbart- 
ians,  recognized  five  co-ordinate  groups:  (i)  mathematics; 
(2)  geography  (as  the  elementary  form  of  science)  ;  (3)  lit- 
erature; (4)  grammar  and  language;  (5)  history. 

It  is  interesting  to  note,  however,  that  even  Dr.  Harris' 
mind  was  haunted  by  the  idea  of  concentration  pure  and  sim- 
ple. True,  he  spoke  of  "unity"  in  an  article  in  which  he 
explained  his  contribution  to  the  once  famous  Report  of 
the  Committee  of  Fifteen :  "The  report  finds  a  deep  under- 
lying unity,  and  affirms  the  necessity  of  approaching  this 
unity  at  all  points  of  the  course  of  study,  but  without  the 
hope  of  reaching  the  fundamental  unity  until  the  period  of 
higher  education."  But  elsewhere,  he  had  arrived  at  this 
surprising  conclusion:  "The  whole  elementary  course  may 
be  described  as  an  extension  of  the  process  of  learning  the 
art  of  reading"!  It  is  evident  from  this  sentence  that  Dr. 
Harris  had  a  very  inadequate  conception  of  the  objective  and 
motor  elements  of  education,  at  that  time,  at  least. 

The  third  term  frequently  suggested,  "interrelation",  has 
been  used  to  denote  a  system  which  places  the  different 
branches  of  instruction  in  mutual  relation  without  attempt- 
ing to  organize  them  in  groups  or  to  subordinate  any  of 
them  to  so-called  centers.  Much  discussion  has  been  going 
on  as  to  which  of  these  plans  is  best.  But  there  is  not  neces- 
sarily an  antagonism  between  the  different  plans.  They 
have  all  their  values  at  different  stages  of  the  educational 
and  instructional  practice  if  we  allow  the  evolutionary 
stages  of  the  child  to  guide  us  in  organizing  the  instructional 
elements.  Of  this,  more  will  be  said  in  later  chapters  of  this 
book. 


48         THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

The  term  "co-ordination"  seems  to  commend  itself  as  pre- 
ferable, in  a  general  sense,  because  it  recognizes,  as  has  been 
shown,  the  independence  of  the  different  branches,  each  in 
its  own  sphere;  and  while  it  allows  of  the  grouping  of  stud- 
ies in  co-ordinated  and  correlated  clusters,  this  grouping  may 
be  varied  to  suit  diflFerent  and  successive  needs  as  they  may 
manifest  themselves  in  the  gradual  unfolding  of  the  child's 
mind.  The  term  "co-ordination"  does  not  imply  the  subor- 
dination of  any  study  to  any  other,  but  permits  us  to  con- 
ceive of  all  individual  branches  as  co-ordinate  elements,  if 
this  conception  should  at  any  time  suggest  itself.  Thus, 
while  it  denotes  the  connection  and  interrelation  of  all,  it 
also  grants  freedom  to  each. 

But  before  entering  further  into  a  discussion  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  co-ordination  as  the  author  understands  them,  a 
few  preliminary  remarks  seem  pertinent. 

Co-ordination,  as  ordinarily  understood,  is  based  prin- 
cipally upon  the  real  or  assumed  relationship  of  the  subjects 
of  instruction.  This  relationship  may,  of  course,  be  very 
differently  apprehended  by  different  persons,  in  accordance 
with  their  individual  idiosyncrasies.  Everybody,  e.  g.,  will 
appreciate  the  relation  and  interdependence  of  arithmetic, 
algebra,  and  geometry;  or  of  history  and  geography.  But 
whether  the  one  or  the  other  is  to  figure  as  the  primary, 
or  the  secondary,  study — as  to  which  one  must  be  consid- 
ered the  leading  and  which  the  subservient  and  accessory 
discipline,  is  a  matter  of  individual  preference  and  attitude. 
Even  the  relative  value  of  the  different  branches,  or  groups, 
is  variously  estimated.  There  are  not  a  few  who  maintain 
that  language  and  arithmetic  are  but  form  studies  whose 
only  function  is  to  serve  as  tools  for  the  acquisition  and  ex- 
pression of  the  thought  as  contained  in  the  "content  studies" 
such  as  geography,  history,  literature,  science,  etc.  Again, 
some  place  language  and  arithmetic  in  the  front  rank,  as 
being  pre-eminently  educational,  and  to  whose  proper  cultiva- 
tion the  other  studies  merely  furnish  the  material. 

It  is  certainly  advantageous,  in  surveying  the  many  differ- 
ent branches  of  instruction,  to  group  them  in  an  organically 
connected  and  articulated  system,  and  were  it  but  for  the  pur- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        49 

pose  of  penetrating  into  their  mutual  relations  and  of  learn- 
ing to  conceive  of  them  as  parts  of  a  great  whole  which  may 
be  diflFerently  denominated  as  Knowledge,  or  Culture,  or 
Civilization.  The  final  aim  of  such  efforts  is  the  unification 
of  all  branches  in  a  philosophic  order  or  theory  which  is  prac- 
tically identical  with  a  conception  of  the  World  as  an  organ- 
ism, or  a  divine  creation,  or  whatever  you  will,  wherein  all 
forces  and  elements  combine  to  further  certain,  more  or  less 
clearly  recognized  or  recognizable  ends. 

Evidently  useful  and  necessary  as  such  unification  must  be, 
and  even  tho  we  should  awaken  in  each  pupil  the  desire,  and 
strengthen  the  faculty,  to  correlate  all  culture  elements,  so  as 
to  build  up  a  unified  world-conception  of  his  own — this  pro- 
cess is  absolutely  dependent  upon  the  individual  point  of  view, 
or  the  individual  mental  attitude  and  aptitude  of  the  thinker 
himself.  It  appears  educationally  doubtful  to  force  any 
such  individual  viewpoint  upon  any  child,  or  school,  or  school 
system.  We  ought  rather  to  help  each  child  to  find  his  own 
point  of  view  among  the  multitude  of  possible  attitudes,  even 
tho  his  may  materially  differ  from  our  own.  For  this  reason, 
any  co-ordination  of  studies  which  is  based  exclusively  and 
rigidly  upon  our  conception  of  their  interrelation  as  branches 
of  a  philosophic  unity,  disregards  the  CHILD  as  an  organ- 
izing center  and  agent.  It  is,  at  best,  a  logical  or  theoretical 
co-ordination,  but  not  one  which  is  adequate  to  respond  to  the 
needs  of  the  child. 

For  the  sake  of  convenience  we  may  group  all  subjects 
under  some  definite  heads,  or  collective  centers,  such  as, 
e.  g.,  (i)  ENVIRONMENT,  which  would  be  a  differ- 
ent name  for  geography,  ethnography,  and  would  include 
nature  study,  even  mathematics,  this  latter  study  being 
based  upon  measurement,  and  establishing  the  science  of 
relations;  and  (2)  HISTORY,  which  would  refer  to  all 
the  experiences  of  the  race,  and  would  therefore  embrace 
language  and  literature  and  art.  Accepting  these  two  cen- 
ters, manual  and  art  training  would  assume  the  function  of 
methodical  elements  thru  whose  agency  the  forces  of  nature 
and  the  civilization  of  man  would  be  better  comprehended ; 
while  music,  perhaps,  would  in  one  sense  be  accessory  to 


50        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

literature,  in  another  to  physical  training. 

Again,  there  is  the  division  of  subjects  into  form-studies 
and  content-studies,  as  has  been  mentioned  before.  Then  we 
may  divide  them  into  such  as  develop  the  mind  intellectually ; 
others,  whose  function  is  the  moral  training  of  the  young 
hearts  to  the  acceptance  and  assimilation  of  noble  ideals;  and 
thirdly  those  which  have  the  normal  development  of  the  body 
for  their  prime  object.  Mathematics  may  be  placed  in  the 
first  group;  literature  in  the  second,  and  gymnastics  in  the 
third.  There  are  many  other  ways  of  grouping  the  subjects 
— all  more  or  less  helpful  and  convenient  in  the  working  out 
of  a  course  of  study,  but  none  of  them  fully  satisfactory  and 
solving  all  difficulties.  There  will  have  to  be  cross-references 
everywhere. 

The  principal  danger  in  working  out  plans  of  this  sort 
consists  in  this  that  there  will  be  an  ever-present  temptation 
to  seek  and  establish  artificial  centers  such  as  recommend 
themselves  to  the  philosophizing  mind  of  the  adult  while  they 
may  be  foreign  to  the  thought  and  interest  of  the  child. 
Thus,  where  the  story  of  Robinson  Crusoe  has  been  made  the 
center  of  the  work  of  a  certain  grade,  all  the  exercises  of  that 
grade  will  for  the  time  being  be  made  to  refer  exclusively  to 
that  interesting  figure  until  the  child  loathes  tp  hear  of  him. 
The  kindergarten,  as  has  been  shown  in  the  previous  chap- 
ter, has  especially  suffered  from  this  conception  of  co-ordina- 
tion. In  the  sequence  of  weekly  themes  which  cover  such 
subjects  as  home-life,  shelter,  food,  covering.  Thanksgiving, 
Christmas,  winter,  the  resurrection  of  the  flowers  and  the  like, 
it  has  been  customary  to  correlate  all  work  of  the  week  so  as 
to  have  a  bearing  upon  the  "theme".  Amusing  and  grotesque 
examples  of  the  absurd  things  that  have  been  done  in  conse- 
quence of  this  attempt  to  force  everything  into  the  straight- 
jacket  of  the  "theme"  might  be  quoted.  In  fact,  kindergart- 
ners  have  sometimes  refused  to  adopt  certain  lines  of  work  into 
their  course  for  the  only  reason  that  they  did  not  know  how 
to  "co-ordinate"  them  with  their  weekly  themes.  Here  is 
the  rhyme-bound  groan  of  a  teacher  whose  supervisors  in- 
sisted on  this  sort  of  artificial  correlation : 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD         51 

With  back  that  was  aching  and  tired 

And  brain  in  a  pitiful  state, 
A  teacher  sat  at  a  laden  desk 

Attempting  to  correlate; — 

Cocoons  and  Indian  chiefs, 

And  the  length  of  Agoonac's  hose; 
The  cubic  root  of  the  Nation's  debt. 

Turtles  and  niggertoes; 

Earth  and  water  and  air, 

Elephants,  adverbs  and  cheese. 
Box-elder  trees  and  the  pyramids. 

With  the  cause  of  the  ocean  breeze. 

Oh,  but  to  teach  again 

As  once  I  used  to  teach 
Before  I  heard  of  "unify" 

Or  "pedagogic  speech"; 

Only  for  one  short  hour 

To  think  as  once  I  thought — 
That  schools  were  made  for  the  children 

And  lessons  to  be  taught. 

Oh,  to  be  at  rest 

Under  the  violets  blue, 
Where  "daily  outlines"  never  come 

And  reports  are  never  due. 

Cocoons  and  Indian  chiefs, 

Presidents,  camels  and  seas, 
Olympic  games  and  glacier  beds. 

Pronouns  and  bumble-bees. 

(School  Education.) 

We  may  not,  perhaps,  agree  with  all  her  longings,  but  we 
can  surely  sympathize  with  her  perplexity  and  distress.  We 
shall  see  presently  that  it  is  well  to  establish  associations  in 


52        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

the  mind  of  the  child ;  yet  we  need  not  fear  that  at  random — 
impressions  will  get  lost.  Something  must  be  left  to  the 
spontaneous  associative  ability  of  the  child.  It  is  an  idle 
attempt  to  pre-digest  everything  for  him.  We  can  trust  in 
his  natural  ability  to  assimilate  the  wealth  of  excitations  and 
sensations  rushing  to  him  from  all  sides,  in  his  own  individ- 
ual way.  The  child  is  unable  to  control  and  organize  all 
these  perceptions  at  once,  and  we,  on  the  other  hand,  shall 
find  it  to  be  far  beyond  our  power  to  control,  or  even  to  be 
aware  of,  this  enormous  mass  of  sense-impressions  and  stim- 
ulations of  thought.  The  child  stores  up  this  treasure  in  his 
brain  without  the  possibility  of  immediate  correlation ;  his 
thinking  is  necessarily  fragmentary.  This  need  cause  no 
anxiety,  for  the  process  of  organizing  these  impressions  is 
long,  but  sure,  if  otherwise  care  be  taken  to  establish  rational 
habits  of  thought.  This  process  of  organization  is  com- 
mensurate to  the  child's  process  of  maturing,  and  is  governed 
by  the  eternal  laws  of  mental  activity.  In  other  words,  the 
loose  threads  will  be  occasionally  gathered  up  and  gradually 
woven  into  a  conceptual  fabric  characteristic  of  the  individual 
mind. 

We  must  look  for  leading  principles  of  true  co-ordination 
not  so  much  in  the  interdependence  of  the  subject  matter  of 
instruction  as  such,  but  rather  in  the  psychological  laws  which 
govern  the  working  of  the  juvenile  mind,  and  of  mind  gen- 
erally. The  interdependence  of  the  instructional  details  of 
the  subject  matter  will  assist  us  in  the  practical  work  of  the 
schoolroom,  to  establish  psychological  relations;  but  the  prin- 
ciples of  arrangement  must  be  derived  from  the  psychological 
conditions  themselves.  That  is  to  say,  the  logical  relations 
of  the  branches  of  instruction  are  external  facts,  and  can  be- 
come internalized,  i.  e.,  they  can  become  modes  of  thought, 
or  mental  organisms,  only  thru  a  psychological  process. 

Were  it  not  so  there  would  never  be  cause  of  feeling 
aggrieved  at  observing  how  many  minds  there  are  to  be 
found  in  which  a  great  many  external  facts  are  stored  up  as 
so  many  pebbles  in  a  bag — facts  which  are  obviously  related, 
objectively  considered,  but  which  have  not  become  subjec- 
tively associated.    The  sad  effect  of  this  condition  will  become 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        53 

manifest  in  the  general  conduct  of  these  individuals  which 
will  be  characterized  by  pitiful  inconsistency.  Thus,  a  man 
who  is  a  scientific  genius  may  be  discovered  to  be  a  bigot  in 
matters  of  religion ;  or  a  kind-hearted  man  who  is  a  loving 
father  and  husband,  may  be  a  veritable  tyrant  and  egotist  in 
his  social  intercourse,  or  in  his  relations  to  employees.  Exam- 
ples of  such  inconsistency  may  be  multiplied — but  they  are 
all  due  to  the  fact  that  an  objective  relation  of  external  facts 
is  not  always  mirrored  in  the  mind  of  man  by  a  correspond- 
ing psychological  organization  which  has  produced  a  subjec- 
tive reality,  a  mental  attitude,  a  mode  of  thought. 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  real  center  of  a  co-ordinative 
system  of  instruction  must  be  the  CHILD.  We  are  indebted 
to  Herbart  for  a  distinct  formulation  of  the  principle  which 
governs  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  by  the  learning  child. 
The  process  by  which  the  mind  appropriates  and  assimilates 
knowledge  is  called  apperception.  Dr.  Karl  Lange,  in  his 
famous  monograph  on  the  subject,  defines  this  process  as  fol- 
lows: 

"In  general,  we  master  the  outer  world  thru  our  percep- 
tions, and  only  thru  them;  yet  in  their  very  nature  there 
lies  at  the  same  time  an  important  limit  for  all  knowing. 
Just  because  the  perceiving  mind  does  not  passively  receive  ex- 
ternal things  or  their  images,  because  nothing  foreign  can 
press  in  upon  it  or  be  communicated  immediately  to  it,  but 
because  it  relates  itself  actively  to  all  outer  excitations  and 
responds  to  them  in  its  own  way,  therefore,  in  a  strict  sense, 
our  perceptions  have  only  relative  truth  and  validity. 

"This  activity  of  the  perceiving  mind,  however,  explains 
another  important  fact.  It  is  a  well-known  experience  that 
one  and  the  same  object  seldom  occasions  precisely  similar 
perceptions  in  the  minds  of  different  people.  Of  the  same 
landscape  the  poet's  image  would  differ  greatly  from  that  of 
the  botanist,  the  painter's  from  that  of  the  geologist  or  the 
farmer,  the  stranger's  from  that  of  him  who  calls  it  home. 

.     .     .     There  are  as  many  ideas  of  one  and  the  same 
thing  as  there  are  observers.     Whence  this  variation  in  ap- 
prehension, with  otherwise  similar  sense  apparatus?     .     .     . 
The  mind  apprehends  the  things  of  the  outer  world  with  the 


54        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

assistance  of  what  it  has  already  experienced,  felt,  learned 
and  digested.  And  so  it  comes  about  that  with  nearly  all 
new  perceptions  the  former  content  of  our  mind  makes  itself 
felt,  so  that  we  become  conscious  of  more  than  that  which 
the  objects  themselves  furnish  us,  seeing  the  latter  thruout 
in  the  light  of  similar  ideas  already  present  in  the  mind. 

"The  process  of  perception  must  not  therefore  be  regarded 
as  such  a  simple  matter  as  superficial  observation  might  seem 
to  indicate.  ...  In  order  that  a  sensation  may  arise, 
there  is,  as  a  rule,  a  fusion  or  union  of  its  content  with  similar 
ideas  and  feelings.  With  the  assistance  of  the  latter,  the 
sensation  is  held  in  consciousness,  elevated  into  greater  clear- 
ness, properly  related  to  the  remaining  fields  of  thought,  and 
so  truly  assimilated.  We  call  this  second  act,  in  distinction 
from  that  of  simple  perception  or  the  reception  of  a  sensation, 
APPERCEPTION,  or  mental  assimilation." 

This  same  fact  has  often  been  expressed  as  a  principle  of 
method,  in  the  form  of  maxims,  such  as:  "From  the  known 
to  the  unknown",  or,  with  another  element  added  to  it: 
"From  the  easy  to  the  difficult," — "From  the  simple  to  the 
complex", — "From  the  concrete  to  the  abstract."  It  is  evi- 
dent that  the  logical  relation  of  the  details  of  the  subject  mat- 
ter will  enable  us  to  make  the  application  of  this  general  rule 
a  comparatively  easy  thing.  In  this  manner  we  shall  establish 
an  instructional  interrelation  of  topics — introducing  new 
ones  by  establishing  apperceptive  associations  with  those  which 
existed  before.  In  order  to  accomplish  this  effectively,  teach- 
ers will  have  to  ascertain  the  mental  status  of  the  children 
entrusted  to  their  care,  the  extent  and  character  of  the  con- 
cepts already  forming  their  intellectual  possessions  and  deter- 
mining their  emotional  attitude;  and  there  are  other  factors 
to  be  observed,  as  the  reaction  time,  inhibition  power,  fatigue 
limit,  and  the  like,  of  individual  children,  and  other  things. 

It  is  clear  that  the  concepts  gained  in  one  branch  of 
study,  or  thru  one  kind  of  activity,  will  condition  and  re-en- 
force concepts  which  are  to  be  mediated  thru  others.  Thus, 
historical  and  geographical  elements  will  prove  mutually  help- 
ful; arithmetical  concepts  will  attain  greater  distinction  by 
geometrical  methods  of  instruction;   laboratory  practice  will 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        55 

form  a  basis  for  true  scientific  ideas;  the  making  of  objects 
will  complete  their  conceptual  images;  and  animistic  myths 
will  prove  themselves  a  fit  introduction  to  science  proper. 

A  relation  of  new  matter,  by  way  of  concrete  examples, 
of  examples  which  refer  back  to  the  child's  previous  experi- 
ence, to  an  "apperceptive  basis",  is  especially  mandatory  in 
the  case  of  elements  which  are  remote  from  the  senses,  or 
foreign  to  the  immediate  environment  and  experience  of  the 
child.  Here,  teachers  frequently  make  the  mistake  of  neg- 
lecting the  apperceptive  process,  taking  it  for  granted  that 
children  can  as  easily  jump  from  one  concept  to  another  as 
adults,  with  their  much  wider  range  of  experiences  and  as- 
sociations, may  be  expected  to  do. 

It  is  often  amusing  as  well  as  instructive  to  observe  how 
easily  children  are  tempted,  by  the  narrow  circle  of  their 
experience,  to  make  false  analogies,  that  is  to  connect  new 
impressions  with  the  wrong  apperceptive  group.  In  reading 
about  the  triumphal  entrance  of  Columbus,  with  King  Ferd- 
inand and  Queen  Isabella,  of  Spain,  after  his  first  voyage  to 
America,  a  certain  class  of  children  was  much  interested  in 
the  "royal  mantle"  which  the  king  wore.  When  asked  what 
that  was,  a  bright  little  girl  answered,  "A  kind  of  light." 
She  had  confused  the  royal  garment  with  a  Welsbach  man- 
tle, the  only  kind  of  a  "mantle"  she  had  ever  heard  of.  A 
king  in  a  Welsbach  mantle  would  have  been  an  interesting 
spectacle  indeed. 

By  interrelating  subjects  so  as  to  respond  to  the  demand 
of  apperceptive  procedure,  we  need  in  no  wise  destroy  their 
individual  independence.  So  far,  indeed,  there  is  no  sugges- 
tion of  an  absolute  unification  at  any  stage,  or  of  the  subor- 
dination of  any  one  subject  to  any  other.  They  must  be 
made  mutually  helpful ;  and  it  is  a  principle  of  economy 
in  evolution  to  relate  details  to  common  groups,  or  prin- 
ciples, so  as  to  enable  the  child  to  establish  a  conceptual 
order  in  the  wilderness  and  embarrassing  multitude  of  de- 
tails so  that  he  may  recognize  old  friends  in  new  settings  or 
dress.  Unless  this  be  accomplished,  he  may  have  to  learn 
anew  about  the  same  geometrical  form  in  the  workshop 
which  had  become  familiar  to  him  as  an  element  of  his 


S6        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

mathematical  study;  or  he  will  not  recognize  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  stove  an  application  of  the  same  laws  which 
he  had  studied  in  his  physical  laboratory  as  governing  the 
radiation  and  distribution  of  heat. 

But  this  apperceptive  relation  once  established,  it  is  well 
to  rigidly  isolate  the  details  in  the  daily  lesson  so  that  there 
may  be  concentration  of  attention  upon  the  object  or  subject 
in  hand.  Without  such  isolation  and  specialization,  a  clear 
understanding  of  the  individual  subject  as  such  will  be  just 
as  impossible  as  it  would  be  thru  neglect  of  the  apperceptive 
helps.  Each  detail  has  its  individual  importance,  and  even 
its  correlative  significance  will  lack  definiteness  if  we  allow 
it  to  be  constantly  mixed  up  with  more  or  less  hazy  associa- 
tions. 

The  apperceptive  process  is  based  upon  the  law  of  inter- 
est. What  has  no  relation  to  things  we  already  know  fails 
to  appeal  to  our  interest,  and  there  will  consequently  be  no 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  mind  to  seize  upon  the  new  object 
and  assimilate  it.  Speaking  of  "native"  and  acquired  inter- 
ests", Prof.  William  James,  in  his  "Talks  to  Teachers  on 
Psychology",  said : 

"Other  objects  can  artificially  acquire  an  interest  only 
thru  first  becoming  associated  with  some  of  these  natively 
interesting  things.  Begin  with  the  line  of  his  native  inter- 
ests, and  offer  him  objects  that  have  some  immediate  con- 
nection with  these.  .  .  .  The  interest,  being  shed  along 
from  point  to  point,  finally  suffuses  the  entire  system  of  ob- 
jects of  thought.  .  .  .  This  is  the  psychological  mean- 
ing of  that  whole  method  of  concentration  in  studies.  .  .  . 
When  the  geography  and  English  and  history  and  arithme- 
tic simultaneously  make  cross-references  to  one  another,  you 
get  an  interesting  set  of  processes  all  along  the  line." 

In  this  way,  the  immediate  environment  of  a  child,  such 
as  the  idea  of  shelter,  food,  clothing,  etc.,  may  in  fact  fur- 
nish valuable  centers  of  interest,  thruout  the  grades,  in  all 
their  various  aspects,  co-ordinating  geography,  science,  man- 
ual work,  mathematics,  history.  If  these  are  recognized  in 
the  practice  of  the  school,  there  is  no  objection  to  be  raised,  if 
they  are  treated  in  the  elastic  manner  which  has  been  sug- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        57 

gested  before. 

The  following  principles  may  be  pointed  out,  as  apt  to 
guide  us  in  the  correlative  arrangement  of  the  subject  mat- 
ter in  a  rational  course  of  study: 

The  Principle  of  Elimination  is  suggested  as  the  first  of 
these.  We  must  eliminate  what  is  unessential,  useless,  and 
consequently  burdensome.  There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever 
that  the  old  practice  of  devoting  the  entire  school  time  to  a 
few  subjects  has  created  the  unwholesome  custom  of  dwell- 
ing too  much  on  imnecessary  and  even  positively  harmful 
details.  The  abuses  characterizing  the  spelling  lessons  are 
still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  teachers,  and  were  it  not  for 
the  fact  that  they  are  not  yet  wholly  a  thing  of  the  past, 
and  that  there  are  many  people  clamoring  even  now  for  a 
return  to  the  old  methods,  we  should  not  need  to  emphasize 
once  more  that  there  is  no  advantage  in  drilling  the  pupils 
in  the  orthography  of  hundreds  and  thousands  of  words 
which  they  will  possibly  never  use  in  their  writing. 

In  a  similar  manner,  much  of  what  now  constitutes  the 
course  in  arithmetic,  notably  the  greater  part  of  the  so-called 
practical,  i.  e.,  commercial  examples,  should  be  left  out  from 
the  curriculum.  All  this  ballast  cannot  be  advantageously 
co-ordinated. 

A  second  principle  is  that  of  Direct  Combination.  Math- 
ematics, e.  g.,  cannot  claim  a  place  on  the  school  program 
as  an  abstract,  isolated  study.  It  should  be  largely  "ob- 
jectified", by  being  directly  combined  with  the  world  of  ob- 
jects. Wherever  accuracy  in  thought  is  demanded,  there 
is  mathematical  material  of  some  kind.  The  abundance  of 
really  practical  problems  that  may  be  supplied  by  manual 
exercises  in  pasteboard,  wood,  iron-work  and  construction, 
sewing,  by  exercises  in  drawing,  designing,  and  modeling, 
needs  no  explanation.  Science  lessons  are  especially  fruitful 
in  offering  problems  for  mathematical  consideration.  In 
geography,  the  number  of  inhabitants  and  area  of  cities  and 
countries;  the  length  of  rivers;  absolute  and  relative  eleva- 
tion; distances,  etc.,  may  be  measured  and  compared.  The 
density  of  population;  miles  of  railroads;  kinds  and  per- 
centage of  products;  import  and  export;  postal,  railroad  and 


58        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

steamer  service ;  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun ;  the  rela- 
tive size  of  the  earth,  continents,  and  oceans,  etc.,  etc.,  afford 
an  endless  variety  of  exercises.  Even  history  abounds  with 
welcome  opportunities.  We  may  measure  and  compare  the 
duration  of  institutions  and  historical  conditions;  the  dis- 
tance in  time  between  important  events;  results  of  wars; 
taxes;  feudal  services  and  tributes;  value  of  money  at  dif- 
ferent periods  and  in  different  countries;  cost  and  organi- 
zation of  communal  and  national  governments;  of  public 
institutions,  schools,  prisons,  police,  etc.  Beginning  in  the 
lowest  grades,  in  fact  in  the  kindergarten,  approximately 
accurate  numerical  statements,  growing  more  and  more  ex- 
act as  the  pupils  increase  in  maturity,  ought  to  accompany 
all  form  study,  occupations  and  even  games.  Form  study 
proper  will  lead  up  to  the  recognition  of  typical  forms,  thru 
direct  observation,  comparison  and  construction  of  solids; 
and  in  the  highest  grades,  the  abstract  mathematical  truths 
discovered  may  find  expression  in  algebraic  form,  which,  in 
turn,  will  enable  the  pupil  to  solve  a  number  of  problems 
of  really  practical  value  with  greater  ease  and  more  under- 
standingly. 

In  a  like  or  similar  manner  other  subjects  will  be  combined 
or  connected,  e.  g.,  geography  with  history  and  natural  his- 
tory ;  grammar  with  composition ;  spelling  with  reading,  writ- 
ing, and  grammar,  etc.  Thus  suggests  another  principle  re- 
sulting from  the  necessity  of  readjustment,  viz.: 

The  Principle  of  Variety  in  Practice.  "Repetitio  est  mater 
studiorum."  There  is  a  need  of  a  certain  amount  of  drill 
and  exercise  in  each  branch  of  study  for  the  sake  of  clarifying 
and  intensifying  the  concepts,  and  of  making  them  the  in- 
destructible property  of  the  mind.  Heretofore  endless  repe- 
titions and  reviews  within  the  limits  of  each  separate  study 
were  the  rule;  this  required  an  undue  amount  of  time  and 
was  extremely  wearisome  to  both  pupil  and  teacher.  Besides, 
it  amounted  to  little  more  than  a  mechanical  re-iteration  of  a 
number  of  relatively  meaningless  separate  facts.  The  wise 
teacher  will  realize  that  practice  and  exercise  do  not  mean  a 
mere  going  over  the  same  ground  again  in  endless  succes- 
sion, but  rather  the  application  of  what  has  been  learned  in 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        59 

one  way,  in  a  different  way,  so  that  the  lesson  may  be  seen 
by  the  pupil  in  a  new  light,  and  assume  the  more  attractive- 
ness to  him  the  more  new  sides  and  properties  he  discovers 
in  it. 

What  can  be  practiced  in  the  shop  needs  not  be  practiced 
over  in  the  laboratory;  what  can  be  reviewed  in  a  reading 
lesson  will  relieve  history  instruction  of  part  of  its  burden. 
This  is  the  age  of  the  "supplementary"  reader.  Thus  time 
can  be  gained  all  around  and  a  number  of  "new"  branches 
can  be  introduced  for  which  there  seemed  no  room  on  the  pro- 
gram. And  in  the  same  measure  in  which  such  an  arrange- 
ment, based  on  the  principle  of  variety  in  practice,  accords 
with  the  psychological  laws  of  attention,  interest  and  exer- 
cise, it  serves  to  unify  the  instructional  elements  im- 
parted to  the  child,  by  establishing  relations  and  associations, 
and  thus  tends  to  bring  about  that  harmony  of  conception 
which  is  the  foundation  of  ethical  culture. 

Discussing  the  principles  governing  the  psychological  ad- 
justment of  concepts  in  mind,  it  becomes  evident  that  the 
co-ordination  of  studies  will  have  to  be  based  mainly  upon 
the 

Principle  of  Objectivity  which  is  apparently  the  most  effec- 
tive principle  of  co-ordination;  and  if  any  studies  are  to  be 
selected  to  occupy  an  honorary  place  on  a  methodically  ar- 
ranged curriculum  of  the  elementary  school,  we  must  look 
for  those  that  embody  this  principle  most  efficiently.  The 
child  is  constantly  dealing  with  objects;  objects  stand  fore- 
most in  his  mind ;  his  sense-perceptions  pertain  to  objects  on 
which  he  sharpens  and  trains  his  powers  of  apprehension  and 
conception ;  which  supply  him  with  those  concepts  which  are 
destined  to  form  the  groundwork  of  all  his  mental  activity, 
and  the  material  of  his  thoughts  and  reflections,  the  founda- 
tions even  of  his  abstract  reasoning,  and  on  which  certainly 
his  interest  concentrates. 

As  in  the  kindergarten,  so  in  the  entire  elementary  school 
course,  all  other  studies  will  group  themselves  around  objec- 
tive work.  This  may  be  summed  up  under  two  different 
heads:  (i)  Nature  studies,  and  (2)  Manual  work.  This 
is  practically  in  accord  with  Herbert  Spencer's  demand  to 


6o        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

assign  to  science  the  first  place  in  school  instruction,  on  the 
ground  that  it  is  the  "knowledge  which  is  of  most  worth." 
To  distinguish  manual  work  from  the  object  lessons,  or 
science  work,  is  perhaps  superfluous:  for  manual  exercises 
may  be  considered  merely  as  a  methodical  device.  In  them 
the  principle  of  objectivity  finds  its  most  forcible  applica- 
tion ;  they  represent  the  experimental  and  constructive  side  of 
nature  studies — for  the  word  "nature"  stands  for  the  entire 
world  of  objects  that  appeal  to  the  sense.  There  is  hardly 
an  essential  difference  between  the  production  of  a  crystal, 
the  construction  of  some  piece  of  physical  apparatus,  the  dis- 
section of  a  fish,  and  the  manufacture  of  a  box,  the  making 
of  a  garment,  or  the  preparation  of  a  savory  dish,  as  long  as 
these  exercises  are  conducted  in  an  educational  spirit.  In  the 
workshop  the  properties  of  matter  are  as  practically  studied 
as  in  the  physical  laboratory. 

It  is  well  to  say  in  parenthesis  that  the  principle  of  objec- 
tivity, as  a  principle  of  method,  applies  to  all  subjects  of 
school  instruction,  even  to  those  which  appear  to  be  the  most 
remote  from  the  senses. 

When  we  connect  theoretical  instruction  more  or  less  di- 
rectly with  practical  studies  and  work,  and  group  its  different 
branches  concentrically,  as  it  were,  around  the  latter,  a 
system  of  associations  will  be  elaborated  which  will  prove 
very  beneficial  in  all  directions.  When  a  child  has  learned 
to  apply  the  law  of  gravitation  or  the  mathematical  prin- 
ciple of  proportion  in  his  shop  work  or  in  a  physical  experi- 
ment, he  will  recall  it  more  easily,  and  will  likewise  under- 
stand it  better:  for  the  work  he  does  in  his  endeavor  to  pro« 
duce  something  which  is  governed  by  what  he  has  theoretic- 
ally learned  to  recognize  as  laws  or  principles,  will  make  an 
incomparably  deeper  impression  upon  his  imagination  and  will 
be  retained  much  longer  and  more  distinctly  by  his  memory 
than  any  mere  theoretical  exposition. 

Apperception  of  new  concepts  would  be  impossible,  as  we 
have  seen,  were  we  not  in  the  condition  to  associate  them 
with,  and  assimilate  them  to,  concepts  already  formed.  The 
entire  body  of  concepts,  however,  which  represents  our  intel- 
lectual possessions,  is  the  product  originally  of  direct  sense- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        6i 

perception,  and  the  discrimination,  combination,  classification, 
and  modification  of  the  same  by  the  activity  of  our  imagina- 
tive and  reasoning  powers.  The  more  comprehensive,  ac- 
curate, and  suggestive  our  perceptions,  the  more  reliable  and 
better  grounded  will  be  our  apperception,  the  better  equipped 
and  more  powerful  our  mind. 

Of  the  motor  values  of  objective  and  manual  exercises, 
more  will  be  said  in  a  later  chapter.  But  even  the  foregoing 
argument  will  suffice  to  set  forth  the  claims  of  these  exercises 
to  be  recognized  as  efficient  for  the  stimulation  of  the  higher 
processes  of  mental  activity,  so  that  they  may  fitly  be  con- 
sidered the  vantage  ground  of  successful  instructional  effort. 

In  grouping  the  studies  of  the  school  curriculum  in  the 
light  of  the  principle  of  objectivity  which  we  have  recog- 
nized to  be  the  effective  principle  of  co-ordination,  the  usual 
order  of  relative  values  appears  to  be  reversed.  Heretofore 
reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic  occupied  the  central  position, 
and  the  other  branches,  including  natural  science  and  manual 
training,  were  reluctantly  admitted  and  barely  tolerated  at 
first.  Now  the  objective  branches  dethrone  the  ancient  trin- 
ity, and  a  new  dynasty  ascends  to  the  seat  of  honor.  The 
central  group  is  formed  by  elementary  natural  science,  includ- 
ing geography  and  manual  training,  as  well  as  the  education 
of  all  the  senses,  consequently  such  branches  as  physical  exer- 
cise, vocal  music,  and  elocution.  Around  this  central  group 
are  arranged  those  studies  which  derive  their  subject  matter 
from  indirect  observations  or  secondary  concepts,  but  which, 
nevertheless,  are  of  supreme  importance  on  account  of  their 
specific  culture  value:  literature,  ethics,  history.  Language, 
as  being  essentially  a  means,  or  mode,  of  reception,  formula- 
tion, and  expression  of  thought,  is  the  common  servant  to  all, 
which,  as  a  servant  and  as  a  vehicle  of  the  assertion  of  indi- 
viduality, is  worthy  of  the  most  careful  training.  The  mathe- 
matical element  whose  function  it  is  to  give  accuracy  and 
exactness  to  ideas,  and  to  evolve  the  definite  from  the  in- 
definite, permeates  the  entire  body  of  studies. 

What  distinguishes  this  scheme  from  that  of  Ziller  and 
other  educationists  of  the  concentration  school,  is  not  only 
the  substitution  of  another  effective  principle  of  co-ordination, 


62        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

but  also  the  democratic  spirit  which  pervades  it.  It  is,  be- 
sides, largely  a  methodical  schemej  selecting,  as  it  does,  the 
natural  vantage  points  in  each  branch  of  human  knowledge; 
it  purports  a  grouping  of  activities  rather  than  one  of  so- 
called  branches  of  instruction.  It  establishes  a  right  relation  be- 
tween the  studies  without  forcing  the  majority  of  them  into  a 
humiliating  subservience  to  one  central  idea.  It  preserves  for 
each  a  wholesome  amount  of  independence.  They  are  grouped 
in  the  order  of  their  functions,  true;  but  the  central  group 
represents  rather  the  government  of  a  democratic  republic 
than  an  absolute  monarchy.  In  it  the  principle  of  educa- 
tional unity  manifests  itself,  and  the  highest  functions  of  the 
entire  system  are,  therefore,  vested  in  that  group. 

And  there  is  another  significant  point  of  difference.  The 
system  here  suggested  preserves  a  wholesome  elasticity.  The 
arrangement  proposed  rests  on  the  discrimination  of  the  re- 
ceptive and  the  expressive  powers  of  the  mind.  Now,  while 
it  is  true  that  the  mind  receives  its  primary  ideas  thru  direct 
sense-perception,  so  that  language  appears  to  be  nothing 
but  a  vehicle  of  expression,  it  is  no  less  true  that  language 
also  mediates  a  vast  number  of  secondary  concepts  which,  in 
the  end,  form  the  larger  and  more  important  part  of  our 
stock  of  knowledge.  Language,  as  will  be  seen  later,  has 
also  a  distinct  value  for  the  training  of  the  reasoning  powers. 
And  it  must  not  be  overlooked  that  language  is  only  one  of 
the  modes  of  expression,  even,  as  Dr.  N.  M.  Butler  once 
expressed  it,  "of  all  the  modes  the  most  difficult,  the  most 
abstract,  the  latest  acquired."  The  very  same  experiments, 
and  manual  and  art  exercises,  which  we  have  included  in  the 
central  group,  are  so  many  modes  of  expression.  "Man  can 
express  his  mental  states  or  ideas  by  the  use  of  language,  by 
gesture,  by  delineation  and  by  construction."  Now  this 
mode,  then  another  mode  of  acquisition  or  of  expression  will 
be  the  most  appropriate  and  efficient,  and  the  exercises  will 
have  to  vary  accordingly,  one  "study"  or  "subject",  or  one 
method  of  treatment,  being  substituted  for  another. 

This  outline  of  principles  points  to  another  consideration 
which  has  only  recently  been  appreciated  in  its  fuller  sig- 
nificance.    If  the  center  of  any  rational  system  of  co-ordin- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        63 

ated  instruction  is  the  child — if  it  is  acknowledged  that  the 
child's  native  interests  will  regulate  our  course  and  guide 
our  steps  in  all  our  educational  efforts:  it  is  plain  that  it 
would  be  futile  to  attempt  the  establishment  of  a  system  of 
correlation  which  would  neglect  the  successive  stages  of 
growth,  and  which  would  remain  rigidly  stereotyped  thru- 
out  the  grades.  For  the  child's  native  interests  change  with 
his  growth,  as  he  passes  thru  successive  developmental  epochs 
which,  while  making  him  very  unlike  the  adult  at  each  in- 
dividual stage,  can  roughly  be  compared  to  the  successive 
stages  which  are  historically  and  biologically  evident  in  the 
evolution  of  civilized  man.  These  shifting  interests,  expres- 
sive as  they  are  of  the  relative  culture  level  which  he  has 
reached,  will  have  to  be  utilized  as  points  of  vantage;  and 
the  work  of  each  grade,  or  instructional  period,  will  have  to 
be  grouped  around  the  central  interest.  In  this  way,  indeed, 
an  arrangement  will  commend  itself  which  may  justly  be 
called  an  approach  to  concentration;  for  tho  there  never  need 
be  an  absolute  sacrifice  of  what  I  have  called  the  "loose 
threads",  there  will  have  to  be  a  temporary  subordination 
of  certain  branches,  not  so  much  to  any  particular  other 
branch,  but  to  some  central  idea  which  will  correspond  to 
the  child's  supreme  interest  at  each  epoch,  and  to  his  stage 
of  physiological  and  psychological  evolution.  As  these 
change,  so  the  central  ideas  will  change,  and  now  this,  now 
another  "leading  principle"  will  assume  prominence.  There 
will  have  to  be  a  continuous  re-adjustment  of  subject  mat- 
ter as  the  child  progresses  from  infancy  to  maturity. 

To  illustrate  once  more,  as  has  been  done  in  the  foregoing 
chapter:  the  kindergarten  and  even  the  primary  child,  rep- 
resenting the  symbolic  stage,  will  be  supremely  interested  in 
mythological  conceptions  of  the  world  around  him.  All 
the  work  in  nature  study,  in  literature,  in  history,  in  con- 
structive activity  even,  will  exhibit  symbolical  and  mytho- 
logical aspects,  and  correspond  to  the  play  instinct  of  these 
early  years.  Again,  the  boy  of  pubescent  age,  in  the  sixth 
and  seventh  grades  of  the  ordinary  system,  cares  little  for 
dreamy  symbolism  and  mere  make-believe  activity.  His  in- 
terest centers  in  adventurous  heroism,  and  he  evolves  altru- 


64        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

istic  feelings  out  of  primitive  selfishness.  The  work  of  this 
period  must  be  heroic,  bold,  and  partake  of  the  nature  of 
conquest,  as  it  were.  Heroic  history,  with  its  geographi- 
cal setting,  virile  poetry,  arduous  and  incentive  work  in 
mathematics  and  science  such  as  will  engage  fullest  intel- 
lectual strength  and  desire  for  conquering  obstacles,  much 
physical  exercise  and  the  like,  will  constitute  a  wholesome 
diet  for  him.  The  girl  of  this  period  is  quite  different — 
sexual  differentiation  setting  in  at  this  time,  and  she  needs 
a  different  instructional  prescription.  It  will  be  seen  that 
reference  is  here  made  not  so  much  to  a  subordination  of 
subjects,  as  to  a  careful  selection  of  topics  and  tasks,  and  to 
the  method  of  their  presentation. 

There  is,  however,  one  particular  point  requiring  atten- 
tion. It  has  been  shown  by  psychological  research  that  there 
are  what  has  been  called  "nascent  periods"  for  different  ac- 
tivities, in  the  mental  evolution  of  the  child,  periods  which 
give  birth,  as  the  name  implies,  to  new  developments.  Thus, 
we  have  the  language  instinct  arising  at  the  time  of  infancy 
and  reaching  its  climax  during  the  years  from  seven  to 
eleven.  The  years  from  five  to  seven  are  the  "counting 
period",  when  children  will  count  anything  and  everything. 
At  9,  children  reach  maturity  in  hand  and  finger  control; 
but  not  before  the  eleventh  year  is  the  freedom  of  the  wrist 
movement  gained.  At  lO,  the  pleasure  of  thinking  out  log- 
ical sequences  springs  up ;  at  1 1 ,  there  is  a  minimum  of  inter- 
est in  reading,  followed  immediately  by  a  maximum  at  I2. 
This  age  is  also  the  maximum  point  of  the  interest  in  geo- 
metrical and  in  mechanical  puzzles.  More  of  this  will  be 
said  in  another  chapter.  It  requires  no  extensive  argument 
to  point  to  the  great  instructional  importance  of  these  periods 
of  nascent  interests,  for  it  is  at  these  junctures  when  we  can 
enlist  the  child's  greatest  effort  in  the  mastering  of  the  sub- 
jects upon  which  his  attention  is  concentrated,  to  which  his 
mind  awakens.  Consequently,  we  shall  do  well  to  lay  spe- 
cial emphasis  upon  such  subjects  at  such  times,  and  to  sub- 
ordinate all  others.  Tho  we  are  yet  far  from  being  able  to 
determine  in  detail  these  nascent  periods  for  all  branches 
of  instruction,  or  for  all  children  individually,  we  have  at 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        65 

least  learned  to  recognize  the  variation  of  emphasis  at  dif- 
ferent stages  as  a  leading  principle  of  co-ordination;  and 
some  of  these  periods  are  certainly  quite  well  established. 
We  may,  for  instance,  justly  lay  special  stress  upon  the 
acquisition  of  the  art  of  reading  at  the  age  of  nine;  upon 
literature  and  extensive  collateral  reading  at  the  age  of 
twelve  and  upward.  We  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to 
other  centers  of  energy  in  another  chapter.  These  centers 
of  energy  will  determine  what  has  been  called  the  "core" 
of  study  at  the  different  periods. 

It  is  beyond  doubt  that  the  kind  of  co-ordination  here  sug- 
gested will  have  a  distinct  ethical  effect,  altho  we  may  not 
select   the   so-called   "Gesinnungsstoffe",   or  ethico-religious 
subjects,  such  as  literature,  history,  and  the  Bible,  to  form 
the  central  "core"  around  which  the  others  would  have  to 
be   grouped,   as   the   Herbart-Ziller  school  of  educarionists 
had  suggested.     The  most  effective  element  of  school  in- 
struction will  be  found  in  the  principle  of  co-ordination  it- 
self, with  its  tendency  to  unify  all  instructional  factors  into 
an  organic  whole,  so  that,  in  the  child's  mind,  there  be  pro- 
duced   what    German    thinkers    call     "Totalanschauung" 
(unity  of  conception,  as  well  as  conception  of  the  world  as 
a  whole,  or  unity).     The  principal  agent  in  this  process  of 
unification  must  be  the  teacher  in  whose  own  mind  the  idea 
of  unity  must  reign  supreme,  and  who  must  be  able  to  pro- 
duce in  the  child's  mind  a  consciousness  of  the  right  rela- 
tions, a  totality  of  concept,  in  which  all  individual  elements, 
percepts,  impulses,  sentiments,  are  arranged  in  an  order  not 
only  logical  but  ethical.     This  cannot  be  accomplished  by 
the  practice  of  the  old  school  which  undertook  to  pour  a 
vast  amount  of  information  into  the  child  in  order  to  give 
him  what  was  supposed   he  needed ;  nor  according  to  the 
Socratic  idea  that  the  teacher  should  simply  make  the  child 
conscious  of  what  he  really  knows — for  he  does  not  "know" 
anything — :  but  by  simply  directing  the  child  and  creating 
such  conditions  for  him  that  he  can  find  the  truth  and  the 
higher  law,  which  is  the  same  in  the  world  of  objects  as  It  Is 
In  the  field  of  ethics,  by  his  own  effort  and  activity.     Self- 
activity  of  the  child  is  the  key-note  of  this  scheme  of  co- 
ordination. 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  Physical  Side  of  Education 

WHATEVER  may  be  our  conception  of  the 
nature  of  the  human  being — whether  we  con- 
sider mind  and  body  as  one,  the  mental  and 
the  physical  manifestations  representing  merely 
two  different  aspects  of  the  same  thing,  or  one 
being  the  function  of  the  other,  in  reciprocal  relation  (mon- 
ism) ;  or  whether  we  understand  them  as  two  different  ele- 
ments, or  principles,  belonging  to  different  worlds,  one  ma- 
terial and  the  other  spiritual,  and  being  governed  by  differ- 
ent sets  of  laws  (dualism)  :  this  fact  will  be  recognized  by  all 
that  there  is  a  close  relation  between  body  and  mind,  a  mu- 
tuality of  dependence  which  is  becoming  more  and  more  un- 
derstood and  scientifically  determined.  Bain  says:  "The 
organ  of  mind  is  not  the  brain  by  itself;  it  is  the  brain, 
nerves,  muscles,  organs  of  sense,  and  viscera." 

It  is  now  well  known  among  educators  and  alienists  that 
mental  and  moral  disorders  and  defects  are  often  but  symp- 
toms, or  effects  of  disease.  It  will  therefore  commend  itself 
to  teachers  and  supervisors  to  watch  pupils  carefully  as  to 
abnormal  developments  for  the  purpose  of  forestalling,  or  at 
least  recognizing,  disease  signs.  Every  teacher  ought  to  learn 
to  make  a  simple  diagnosis  of  common  children's  troubles, 
and  to  be  versed  in  the  conditions  and  factors  of  normal  and 
abnormal  child  growth;  and  regularly  appointed  school 
physicians  should  assist  them  in  this  respect.  Each  school 
should  be  supervised  in  a  systematic  way  by  such  physicians, 
some  of  whom  ought  to  be  specialists  of  different  kinds,  and 
all  of  whom  ought  to  have  a  particular  familiarity  with  pe- 

66 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        67 

diatrics.  A  careful  and  complete  system  of  educational  child 
study,  such  as  should  be  organized  in  every  school,  will  in- 
clude physical  measurements  and  examinations  at  regular  in- 
tervals. 

In  some  larger  school  systems  some  such  organization 
has  already  taken  place,  and  in  some  instances  there  is  a  sys- 
tematic co-operation  with  the  Boards  of  Health.  But  a  com- 
plete organization  such  as  the  author  has  in  mind,  has  not 
yet  been  established  anywhere.  And  it  is  a  matter  of  his- 
torical interest,  perhaps,  that  the  first  complete  system  of  this 
kind  in  this  country  at  least,  was  inaugurated  during  the 
author's  superintendency  in  the  "Workingman's  School",  later 
called  the  "Ethical  Culture  School"  of  New  York  City,  as 
early  as  the  year  1892.  A  full  description  is  contained  in  the 
author's  little  book,  "A  Working  System  of  Child  Study  for 
Schools"  (C.  W.  Bardeen,  Syracuse,  1897)  to  which  refer- 
ence is  here  made  for  details. 

Here  it  may  suffice  to  say  that  the  child's  physical  history, 
his  hereditary  and  environmental  conditions,  were  ascertained 
as  far  as  possible  as  soon  as  the  pupil  entered  the  school.  A 
regular  system  of  body  measurements  and  examinations  fol- 
lowed the  child  up  from  year  to  year. 

The  advantages  of  such  investigations  are  patent  and  mani- 
fold. They  enable  physicians  and  school  authorities  to  dis- 
cover incipient  diseases,  and  to  militate  against  the  spread 
of  contagious  and  infectious  maladies.  Much  of  subnormal 
and  abnormal  deviation  and  derailment  can  be  traced  to  its 
first  causes,  and  occasionally  checked,  or  at  least  placed  under 
proper  observation. 

Infectious  diseases  are  fraught  with  danger  not  merely 
by  their  immediate  presence,  but  also  by  the  injurious  after- 
effects which  follow  in  their  wake.  There  is  consequently 
need  of  careful  control,  and  even  rigid  measures  may  have  to 
be  insisted  upon,  on  the  part  of  the  school  authorities,  even 
tho  they  may  find  parents,  and  at  times  even  their  family 
physicians,  disinclined  to  submit  to  the  inconvenience  which 
is  caused  by  quarantine  precautions. 

Other  troubles  needing  careful  and  conscientious  watching, 
and  often  producing  serious  effects  on  the  mental  and  moral 


68        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

condition  of  the  pupils,  are  eye,  ear,  throat,  and  nose  defects. 
Impaired  vision  is  responsible  for  much  seeming  inefficiency 
in  the  school  room,  as  is  likewise  weakness  of  hearing  which 
is  frequently  caused  by  adenoid  vegetations  in  the  nasal- 
pharingeal  passages.  Mouth-breathers  can  be  readily  recog- 
nized by  their  more  or  less  stupid  expression.  Inflamed  eyes 
are  often  infectious.  A  watchful  study  and  conscientious  con- 
sideration of  these  ailments  will  be  very  helpful  in  discipline, 
as  they  are  the  cause  of  much  aberration  from  the  straight 
and  narrow  path  of  what  is  styled  "good  conduct."  More  of 
this  will  be  said  in  the  chapter  on  discipline. 

The  reformative  value  of  physical  training  has  been  fully 
demonstrated  in  the  treatment  of  the  delinquent  classes. 
Physical  exercise  and  activity  are  a  valuable  means  in  treat- 
ing defects  even  of  a  seeming  moral  nature,  and  will  some- 
times brighten  up  a  brain  whose  functions  were  thought  to  be 
dull.  It  is  a  common  experience  even  of  adults  that  a  change 
of  occupation,  particularly  a  change  from  mental  to  physical 
activity,  relieves  weariness  and  effects  a  restoration  of  the 
mental  powers.  Fresh  air  has  proved  itself  a  wonderful 
remedy  for  obstreperousness  and  ugliness  of  temper. 

This  suggests  the  necessity  of  hygienic  measures  of  precau- 
tion for  the  purpose  of  forestalling  distressing  developments. 
As  a  complete  chapter  will  be  devoted  to  hygienic  suggestions, 
it  will  suffice  here  to  give  a  brief  survey  of  the  requirements. 
Many  of  the  measures  to  be  reckoned  under  this  head  are 
of  course  dependent  upon  the  conditions  of  the  home  life 
of  the  children,  and  are  but  indirectly  under  the  control  of 
the  teacher  or  school  authority.  It  is  mandatory,  then,  that 
efforts  be  made  to  establish  a  closer  connection  between  home 
and  school,  so  that  parents  may  be  induced  to  listen  to  the 
advice  of  professional  educators  and  physicians  in  matters 
touching  the  privacy  of  their  homes,  as  long  as  they  refer  to 
the  educational  environment  of  the  children.  Parents'  meet- 
ings, school  and  visiting  nurses,  and  similar  agencies,  have 
already  been  arranged  for  in  some  places  to  bring  about  such 
a  closer  contact  and  co-operation. 

First  of  the  conditions  of  healthy  child  life  is  proper 
nutrition.    What  kind  of  food,  and  what  quantity,  children 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        69 

should  have  at  different  periods  of  their  lives,  requires  not 
only  a  great  deal  of  common  sense,  but  of  scientific  research. 
Students  of  pediatrics  have  devoted  much  time  to  this  re- 
search. The  problem  of  school  lunches  is  such  an  important 
one  that  in  some  places  the  schools  have  undertaken  to  furnish 
lunches,  the  composition  of  which  is  made  the  object  of  much 
painstaking  study.  Few  parents  have  as  yet  given  this  ques- 
tion its  full  share  of  attention.  Insufficiency  of  nourishing 
food  is  one  of  the  most  ordinary  causes  not  only  of  physical, 
but  also,  and  largely,  of  mental  and  moral  disturbance,  and 
even  abnormality.  Malnutritrion  (insufficient  breakfasts,  for 
instance)  is  at  the  bottom  of  most  of  the  "school  headaches", 
improperly  so  called. 

Cleanliness  is  the  second  prerequisite  of  normal  work. 
Cleanliness  of  the  body  and  cleanliness  of  the  clothing,  of 
the  bed  the  child  sleeps  in,  of  the  rooms,  at  home  and  in 
school.  It  may  not  be  clear  to  everybody  that  the  skin  has 
an  essential  function  in  the  process  of  assimilation  and  nutri- 
tion so  that  cleanliness  is  really  an  accessary  to  food.  Bath- 
ing, its  frequency,  time,  and  nature,  is  a  subject  which  should 
receive  much  care.  In  the  schools  there  should  be  ample  pro- 
visions for  cleaning,  ventilating  and  washing.  School  baths 
have  been  introduced  in  many  cities  abroad  and  in  some  of 
this  country.  Those  who  have  no  experience  in  this  matter 
would  possibly  be  surprised  to  see  the  difference  it  makes  in 
the  alertness  and  attention  of  pupils  whether  they  had  their 
bath  or  not.  Sending  a  listless  child  under  the  shower  bath 
recommends  itself  in  many  instances  as  a  much  more  rational 
measure  of  discipline  than  to  send  him  to  the  principal's 
office  for  punishment. 

The  matter  of  rest  and  sleep  is  another  factor  of  enormous 
influence.  Children  are  not  infrequently  kept  up  too  late  at 
night,  partly  from  over-indulgence,  because  our  little  ones 
like  it  only  too  well  to  imitate  the  evening  hours  of  their 
elders;  partly  as  a  result  of  the  objectionable  custom  of  tak- 
ing children  out  to  parties  and  amusements  when  they  ought 
to  be  in  bed.  Again,  there  is  pernicious  overburdening  of 
pupils  with  home  work,  or  with  home  duties  of  various 
kinds;    teachers  and  parents  are  jointly  responsible  for  this 


70        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

abuse. 

The  effects  of  hygienic  neglect  are  designated  as  fatigue. 
Fatigue,  then,  must  be  understood  as  being  caused  not  only 
by  lack  of  rest,  or  by  overwork ;  malnutrition  and  absence  of 
cleanliness  are  just  as  responsibe  for  it.  It  produces  serious 
mental  results  which  mean,  broadly  speaking,  a  "relapse 
into  the  animal  method  of  non-reasoning."  The  human  be- 
ing ceases  to  be  rational  when  under  the  effect  of  fatigue; 
it  is  plain  that  children,  having  less  power  of  resistance  than 
adults,  suffer  particularly  from  these  conditions.  Every  ef- 
fort, long  enough  continued,  or  indulged  in  too  intensely, 
produces  fatigue.  Interesting  investigations  have  been  made 
in  regard  to  the  fatigue  values  of  the  different  school  studies. 
The  daily  program  of  exercises  must  therefore  be  carefully 
planned  in  order  to  balance  the  pupils'  powers  of  application. 
Forenoon  and  afternoon  work  must  differ  in  character,  as 
surely  the  different  hours  of  the  day  have  different  energy 
values  for  the  children,  individually  and  collectively.  Re- 
cesses should  be  systematically  distributed  to  afford  relief  and 
recreation  at  the  proper  junctures;  the  length  of  the  instruc- 
tion periods  must  be  adjusted  to  the  fatigue  values  of  the 
studies  referred  to  before.  A  change  of  employment,  altho 
generally  having  the  function  of  relief,  is  not  in  every  case 
recreative. 

Fatigue,  it  ought  to  be  noted,  is  often  due,  not  to  over- 
strain or  hygienic  neglect,  but  to  poor  training.  It  will 
manifest  itself  when  children  have  not  learned  the  best 
method  of  applying  themselves.  When  there  is  a  lack  of 
interest  and  inspiration,  there  will  be  ready  fatigue.  More 
frequently,  of  course,  fatigue  follows  over-exertion.  A  ten- 
sion of  the  attention  and  energy  which  may  even  succeed  in 
overcoming  the  first  stage  of  fatigue  and  in  calling  forth 
what  has  been  denominated  "second  breath",  will  end  in  a 
still  more  serious  collapse.* 

There  are  several  definite  signs  that  can  be  observed  as 
indicating  fatigue,  no  matter  by  what  this  fatigue  may  have 


*Cf.  G.  E.  Partridge,  "Second  Breath",  Pedagogical  Seminary 
IV,  3. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        71 

been  caused.  An  enumeration  of  these,  as  given  by  Edward 
D.  Meek  some  time  ago,  may  not  be  useless  for  the  teacher. 
They  are  as  follows: 

Physical  fatigue:  (i)  Angles  of  mouth  depressed;  (2) 
furrows  across  forehead;  (3)  eyes  wandering;  (4)  colora- 
tion beneath  the  eyes;  (5)  white  line  around  the  mouth; 
(6)  bluish  spots  on  cheeks  and  neck;  (7)  pulse  unusually 
slow  or  rapid;  (8)  frequent  attacks  of  headache;  (9)  awk- 
ward position  of  body;  (10)  neurasthenic  voice;  (11)  un- 
natural action;   (12)   general  appearance  of  depression. 

Mental  fatigue :  ( I )  Lack  of  ability  to  give  attention ; 
(2)  weakening  of  perception;  (3)  unreadiness  and  inaccur- 
acy of  judgment;  (4)  diminished  power  of  insight;  (5) 
loss  of  sensitiveness;  (6)  lack  of  self-control;  (7)  lessened 
work- rate;  (8)  lengthened  reaction  time;  (9)  deep  sense 
of  misery  in  the  morning;  (10)  one  or  more  insistent  ideas 
which  cannot  be  thrown  ofiF. 

Lack  of  exercise,  sedentary  habits,  are  just  as  apt  to  les- 
sen the  vitality,  producing  a  kind  of  chronic  fatigue,  as  is 
over-stimulation.  Girls  in  the  pubescent  period  suffer  par- 
ticularly from  too  sedentary  and  confining  a  life. 

This  consideration  alone  would  prove  the  great  value  of 
physical  exercise,  and  of  excursions  and  walks  in  connection 
with  nature,  geography,  and  history  work,  even  if  these  had 
no  claim  as  excellent  methodical  devices.  And  the  demand 
for  manual  training,  apart  from  its  tremendous  importance 
educationally,  as  set  forth  in  the  previous  chapter,  also  has 
its  function  as  healthy  bodily  exercise.  The  recreative  and 
inspiring  effect  of  games,  gymnastics,  and  vocal  music  are 
very  evident  in  this  connection.  The  value  of  rhythm,  and 
of  rhythmical  movements,  has  been  touched  upon  before. 
This  element  will  enhance  and  stimulate  all  physical  exer- 
cise. 

A  factor  which  cannot  be  too  often  urged  as  operating  in 
a  marked  degree  against  the  natural  vitality  of  children,  is 
the  dull  routine  of  the  schoolroom  over  which  a  mechanical 
teacher  presides.  Monotonous  lessons,  over-exacting  exer- 
cises, tedious  repetitions  make  a  naturally  bright  child  fa- 
tigued and  dull.    Add  to  this  overheated  and  ill-ventilated 


72        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

rooms,  improper  and  ill-fitting  furniture,  vicious  methods  in 
writing,  sewing  and  other  handwork,  and  you  have  a  com- 
bination of  evil  influences  militating  against  the  natural  im- 
pulses of  the  child. 

A  very  pronounced  diflference  has  been  observed  in  the 
rate  of  growth  of  city  school  children  during  the  summer 
vacation  months,  as  compared  with  the  growth  during  the 
nine  or  ten  months  of  school;  these  children  gain  as  much 
during  the  summer  as  they  do  the  rest  of  the  year.  While 
perhaps  the  summer  temperature  may  increase  slightly  the 
metabolism  of  the  children,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  un- 
natural restraint  to  which  they  are  subjected  during  school 
time,  has  much  to  do  with  this  remarkable  difference.  For 
with  children  who  live  under  natural  conditions  all  the  year 
around,  the  very  opposite  condition  has  been  observed.  With 
them  there  is  a  minimum  growth  during  the  summer  months, 
and  they  are  even  apt  to  lose  during  this  time  the  amount 
of  weight  they  had  acquired  during  the  middle  period  which 
lasts  from  about  April  to  June  or  July.  The  maximum 
period  when  the  child  accumulates  the  increment  in  weight 
which  is  to  last  him  for  the  year,  covers  naturally  the  winter 
months. 

As  early  as  in  the  year  1897,  Dr.  Townsend  Porter  has 
shown  by  most  interesting  investigations  that  the  growth 
periods  of  a  child  are  intimately  connected  with  his  men- 
tal evolution.  He  demonstrated  that  children  nearest  to  the 
average  weight  of  their  age  are  to  be  found  a  class  higher 
than  they  are  supposed  to  be  according  to  the  artificial  stand- 
ard. He  also  found  precocious  children  to  be  taller  as  well 
as  heavier  than  dull  children.  Successful  children  have 
larger  chests  than  the  unsuccessful.  The  width  of  the  head, 
or  distance  from  one  parietal  eminence  to  the  other,  meas- 
ured with  calipers,  is  also  greater  in  more  advanced  pupils 
than  in  those  less  advanced.  He  thought  that  no  child  whose 
weight  is  below  the  average  of  his  age  should  be  permitted 
to  enter  a  school  grade  beyond  the  average  of  his  age,  ex- 
cept after  such  a  physical  examination  as  shall  make  it  prob- 
able that  the  child's  strength  shall  be  equal  to  the  strain. 
It  was  also  shown  by  him  that  the  normal  age  for  each 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        73 

"school  grade"  was  about  a  year  higher  than  the  traditional 
standard,  which  goes  to  prove  that  this  standard  is  artificial, 
unjust  and  consequently  injurious. 

Recent  investigations  in  New  York  have  led  to  a  dis- 
crimination between  what  may  be  called  the  "chronological 
age",  and  the  "physiological  age"  which  is  determined  not 
by  the  number  of  years  a  child  has  to  his  record,  but  by  the 
degree  of  physical  maturity.  (Dr.  C.  Ward  Crampton).  To 
this  distinction  we  may  add  the  other  of  psydiological  matur- 
ity. The  mental  and  moral  development  of  a  child  is  by  no 
means  parallel  to  his  "chronological"  or  "physiological"  age, 
in  every  instance.  But  the  proper  grading  of  a  child  depends 
naturally  upon  all  these  factors. 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  these  growth  periods,  in  the  indi- 
vidual children,  must  be  carefully  observed.  Regular  meas- 
urements, accompanied  by  physiological  and  psychological 
tests,  will  render  the  opportunity. 

In  regard  to  a  proper  application  of  the  data  obtained, 
we  must  first  consider  what  must  be  avoided  to  prevent 
unwholesome  influences,  arrest  of  development,  interference 
with  normal  growth,  etc.  Let  us  remember  that,  while  exer- 
cise stimulates  growth,  too  much  of  it  has  a  stunting  ef- 
fect. The  tall  races  are  the  conquering  ones,  and  pigmy 
tribes  and  dwarfed  children  show  the  effect  of  lessened  vi- 
tality, or  relentless  drudgery.  Then  again,  we  ought  to 
be  very  clear  as  to  where  stimulation  and  exercise  are 
needed,  in  what  degree,  and  of  what  kind. 

A  few  facts  may  here  be  mentioned,  by  way  of  introduc- 
tion to  the  subject.  The  years  from  six  to  nine  require  ex- 
ercises exciting  growth.  Joyful,  simple  games  are  all  that 
is  needed,  none  that  strain  a  small  number  of  muscles,  but 
such  as  give  full  play  to  the  central  movements  of  the 
whole  body.  There  must  be  ample  opportunity  for  such 
exercise;  forcing  the  children  of  these  tender  years  to  stand 
or  sit  still  for  any  length  of  time  implies  an  intense  strain. 
If  we  further  remember  that  at  the  age  of  8,  the  brain 
reaches  almost  its  full  weight,  we  shall  understand  why  now 
the  period  of  choreatic  attacks  begins,  a  period  which  may 
also  be  called  the  fatigue  period.    This  period  has  been  de- 


74        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

scribed  as  one  in  which  the  anomaly  of  a  dilated  heart  oc- 
curs in  children,  with  evidence  of  cardiac  incompetence, 
such  as  shortness  of  breath  and  readiness  of  fatigue.  This 
critical  period  is  fraught  with  danger,  as  it  is  quite  insidi- 
ous in  its  approach.  Physical  and  mental  fatigue  signs  are 
both  present,  and  the  child,  instead  of  needing  more  exercise 
as  some  may  be  inclined  to  think,  should  be  given  oppor- 
tunity for  lying  fallow  and  conserving  his  strength.  Ap- 
plied to  the  work  of  the  school  at  this  stage,  it  should  be 
diminished  temporarily,  in  quantity  as  well  as  in  intensity. 

It  may  be  assumed  that  this  manifestation  of  weakness  in 
the  child  has  its  cause  in  the  fact  stated  before,  that  the 
brain  has  now  attained  almost  its  full  weight  and  that  the 
functional  development  begins  which  draws  a  large  share 
of  the  blood  supply  to  the  nervous  system  thus  taxing  the 
heart  more  than  before  and  depleting  somewhat  the  vital 
organs.  And  during  the  period  of  transition  the  nervous 
system  is  naturally  more  sensitive  to  injurious  influences 
than  at  other  times. 

The  years  from  nine  to  sixteen  are  the  period  of  most 
rapid  growth  in  height  and  weight.  Again,  exercises  excit- 
ing growth  are  well  adapted  to  this  age,  and  the  aim  must  be 
to  co-ordinate  motion  and  emotion.  A  well-poised  carriage  and 
a  control  over  the  body  in  general  and  its  movements,  mak- 
ing these  expressive  and  rhythmic,  will  be  the  result.  Tac- 
tics and  calisthenics  are  most  appropriate  at  this  period,  but 
care  is  necessary  to  avoid  exhaustion  as  the  power  of  resist- 
ance is  yet  low. 

The  new  forces  which  mark  the  dawn  of  puberty  are  now 
manifesting  themselves,  and  the  racial  and  national  instincts, 
reverberations  of  the  early  history  of  the  special  branch  of 
humanity  from  which  the  individual  has  sprung,  now  force 
themselves  into  the  foreground  and  give  to  the  age  of  adoles- 
cence the  character  of  adventure  and  conquest.  The  chil- 
dren delight  in  forming  predatory  societies,  in  teasing  and 
bullying.  The  primitive  instinct  of  exultation  of  victory 
leads  the  pubescent  boys  to  give  the  impression  of  having 
lost  all  sense  of  sympathy  and  charity;  and  the  practical 
jokes,  so  much  indulged  in  at  this  stage,  are  relics  of  the 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        75 

spirit  of  primordial  warfare  and  torture.* 

Athletic  games  which  symbolize  these  tendencies  and  make 
them  harmless,  will  serve  as  a  safety  valve. 

The  year  from  ii  to  12  inaugurates  the  perfection  of  the 
muscular  system.  Games  of  skill  at  this  period  will  aflFord 
training  in  muscular  quickness.  This  is  also  the  age  when 
sexual  differentiation  sets  in. 

Girls  have  a  period  of  maximum  growth  from  11  to  12 
years  of  age.  In  boys,  the  antero-posterior  diameter  of  the 
chest  reaches,  at  the  age  of  12,  double  the  width  it  was  at 
birth.  Boys  differentiate  so  as  to  represent  the  katabolic, 
energy  expending,  masculine  type;  girls  assert  their  fem- 
ininity by  the  anabolic,  energy  conserving  quality  of  their  na- 
ture. Boys  of  12  exhibit  fighting  tendencies;  their  interest 
changes  from  playful  symbolism  to  bold  realities.  They  brave 
danger;  they  organize  in  "gangs";  they  are  hero-worshippers 
and  follow  readily  a  leader  if  they  cannot  themselves  be 
leaders.  Rough  games  and  strength-trying  athletics  stand 
foremost  in  their  minds.  They  are  so  conscious  of  the  ad- 
vantages of  masculinity  that  they  have  little  patience  or  ad- 
miration towards  girls.  In  opposition  to  this  exhibition  of 
ancient  tribal  instincts  on  the  part  of  the  male  sex  of  12 
years  of  age,  the  girls  of  the  same  age  develop  subjective  ten- 
dencies. They  become  sensitive  mimosae  and  indulge  in  what 
is  called  the  "proprieties",  sometimes  to  a  morbid  degree  of 
excess.  Sentimental  friendships  take  with  them  the  place  of 
the  boys'  hero-worship.  Their  tendency  is  towards  grace- 
fulness in  exercise,  and  poise  in  vigor. 

At  13,  two  years  later  than  the  girls,  the  boys  have  their 
maximum  of  growth.  Still  endurance  games,  such  as  mile 
run,  tug  of  war,  football,  should  be  avoided  as  they  involve 
too  great  a  strain  for  the  imperfectly  developed  organs  of 
the  child  of  this  age.  Apparatus  work,  intricate  ball  games 
and  other  games  of  alertness  will  prove  valuable  at  this  time. 
Similar  exercises,  toned  down  to  graceful  proportions,  will 


♦President  Stanley  Hall  and  his  school  of  investigators  have 
furnished  much  of  the  material  from  which  these  conclusions 
are  drawn. 


76        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

satisfy  the  needs  of  the  girls  at  this  period  who  reach  now 
their  maturity  in  rapidity  of  movement. 

The  years  from  14  to  20  are,  for  the  boys,  the  period  of 
physical  development  par  excellence.  There  is  now  a  strong 
activity  of  the  vital  organs,  heart  and  lungs,  to  be  observed, 
which  manifests  itself  in  a  high  degree  of  skill,  daring  and 
courage.  Yet,  before  the  end  of  this  period,  endurance  games 
would  still  involve  a  great  amount  of  risk ;  high  school  foot- 
ball teams  are  really  an  anomaly.  The  maximum  of  strength 
and  endurance  is  reached  at  the  age  of  20  or  21 — an  age 
designated  by  ancient  usage  as  the  age  of  "majority". 

The  girls  are  considerably  less  vigorous  at  this  stage  of 
their  life.  There  is  a  rapid  falling  off  in  the  growth  rate,  and 
the  girls  are  more  apt  to  contract  disease  now  than  at  any 
other  time,  so  that  this  epoch  in  their  development  may  fitly 
be  called  the  disease-period.  Yet,  there  is  also  rapid  increase 
in  strength,  while  with  the  boys  this  occurs  a  year  later.  It 
is  interesting  to  note,  however,  how  weight  and  vitality  pro- 
gress along  parallel  lines. 

From  the  foregoing,  the  function  of  gymnastics  in  educa- 
tion will  be  plainly  intelligible.  Gymnastics  is  a  collective 
term,  including  all  such  exercises  in  physical  training  as  per- 
tain to  a  healthy  and  poised  development  of  the  body  as  a 
substratum  of  the  mind,  or,  if  one  prefers,  of  the  body  as  a 
ready  tool  of  the  spirit.  It  purports  a  harmonious  develop- 
ment in  proportion  to  physical  and  mental  growth,  and  min- 
isters to  the  various  and  varying  demands  of  this  growth. 
Its  outward  result  manifests  itself  in  a  proper  carriage  and 
control  in  all  positions  of  the  body,  in  sitting,  walking, 
standing,  and  in  the  performance  of  all  its  functions.  It 
means,  finally,  complete  self-control  with  reference  to  the 
physical  factors  of  human  life. 

Sports  and  athletics  can  only  be  considered  a  part  of  a 
complete  system  of  physical  training,  and  are  embraced  in 
the  term  "gymnastics".  Taken  separately  they  can  never 
suffice  or  take  the  place  of  a  full-rounded  course  in  gymnas- 
tics. Sportsmen  and  athletes  are  specialists,  and  their  train- 
ing has  little  of  genuine  educational  features.  Particularly 
one-sided  is  military  drill  which  has  sometimes  been  suggested 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD         77 

as  a  fit  exercise  for  school  children.  Exercises  of  a  "military" 
character  may  have  a  place  at  certain  stages  in  a  complete 
physical  curriculum ;  but  their  scope  is  narrow,  and  their  ten- 
dency of  doubtful  ethical  significance.  It  may  prove  helpful 
only  at  the  stage  when  primitive  instincts  manifest  themselves 
in  the  adolescent  boy,  and  it  requires  careful  handling  so  as 
not  to  perpetuate  those  brutal  impulses  and  to  elevate  them 
to  the  dignity  of  a  patriotic  ideal. 

Physical  training  ought  to  be  regulated  by  individual  con- 
ditions, particularly  weight,  and  not  by  school  grades,  arti- 
ficial as  these  are  usually  organized.  The  pupils  of  a  school,  or 
even  of  an  entire  school  system,  should  rather  be  taken  in  sec- 
tions, carefully  grouped  on  the  basis  of  measurements  and 
examinations. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  emphasize  the  need  of  open  air 
gymnasia  to  supplement  the  indoor  halls  for  gymnastic  exer- 
cise. And  there  ought  to  be  a  generous  proportion  of  games 
included.  These  should  be  graduated,  to  follow  the  leading 
interests  and  needs  at  different  stages  of  child  development, 
and  would  include  dramatic  impersonations.  Certain  games 
derive  their  educational  value  from  the  fact  that  they  assist 
the  child  in  working  off  primitive  instincts,  which  must  make 
room  for  higher  civilisatory  impulses,  by  a  "lopping  off" 
process,  as  it  has  been  called. 

Playgrounds,  open  all  day  to  the  children  for  exercise,  will 
supplement  the  systematic  work  of  the  school.  To  make  these 
educationally  valuable,  they  must  be  under  the  direction  and 
supervision  of  trained  teachers. 

The  general  tendency  of  a  well-organized  system  of  phys- 
ical education  is  all-aroundness,  symmetry;  the  final  aim  is 
POWER,  VIGOR,  SELF-CONTROL.  There  is,  then,  a  very  de- 
cided ethical  element  in  physical  training  when  it  is  rightly 
understood,  and  it  assists  to  a  marvellous  extent  in  the  train- 
ing of  the  will. 

The  physical  side  of  education  is  as  essential  a  part  of  the 
general  scheme  of  a  co-ordinated  course  of  study  as  the 
scholastic  part,  and  it  pertains  to  the  realization  of  the  ancient 
motto:     "Mens  Sana  in  Cor  pore  Sana" 


CHAPTER  V 

A  Rational  Course  of  Study 

A 

IT  is  not  intended  to  present  in  this  chapter  an  outline  of 
a  rational  course  of  instruction  in  detail,  but  to  sug- 
gest the  consideration  of  the  principles  which  ought  to 
determine  the  selection  and  arrangement  of  the  instruc- 
tional elements.  Some  of  the  details  have  already  been 
alluded  to  in  previous  chapters,  and  more  will  be  submitted 
for  consideration  in  the  following  sections. 

The  first  question  which  presents  itself  to  us  would  be, 
it  seems:  Is  a  course  of  study,  as  one  is  generally  under- 
stood, a  necessity,  or  can  a  school  do  without  it?  Pesta- 
lozzi,  at  Burgdorf,  worked  without  a  course  of  study,  and 
yet  his  work  meant  an  educational  revolution.  But  surely  he 
had  a  well-defined  plan,  or  purpose,  in  his  mind  which  regu- 
lated and  articulated  the  details  of  his  daily  routine,  if  there 
was  such;  and  the  creative  genius  of  the  man  was  equal  to 
the  task  of  adjusting  himself  momentarily  to  the  exigencies 
of  individual  situations.  If  every  teacher  were  a  creative 
genius,  and  if  any  given  set  of  co-workers  in  a  school  could 
work  in  harmony  by  intuition,  an  outline  of  the  work  in 
hand  would  not  be  so  necessary.  On  the  other  hand,  if  a 
written  and  formulated  course  degenerates  into  a  formal,  me- 
chanical thing;  when  it  becomes  a  straight-jacket  which  pre- 
vents freedom  of  movement;  when  it  is  the  embodiment  of 
punctilious  rules  and  prescriptions,  edicts  and  directions,  for- 
mulas of  formalities  of  "methods"  and  devices:  it  will 
surely  prove  itself  an  obstruction  in  the  way  of  rational  edu- 

78 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        79 

cation.  A  course  of  study,  intended  for  the  development  of 
the  growing  minds  of  living  children,  must  itself  be  a  living, 
growing  organism.  It  must  not  check,  but  encourage  the 
originality  and  spontaneity  of  the  teacher.  Teachers  dif- 
fer in  attitude  and  capacity;  classes  differ  likewise,  and  a 
"fourth  grade"  of  one  year  may  not  easily  be  compared  with 
the  same  grade  of  the  previous  term.  There  must  be  oppor- 
tunity for  adjustment;  there  must  be  elasticity.  The  same 
object  can  be  accomplished  by  various  means,  and  what  is 
impossible  for  one  person  is  a  matter  of  course  with  another. 
A  course  of  study  ought  therefore  to  have  the  character  of 
an  outline  to  be  filled  in,  rather  than  of  a  detailed,  cast-iron 
prescription.  It  must  be  suggestive  rather  than  authorita- 
tive. If  the  director  of  a  school,  or  of  a  school  system,  is 
really  a  "director",  and  not  merely  a  figure-head,  or  a 
pedantic  crank,  he  will  find  little  difficulty  in  articulating 
the  spontaneous  work  of  intelligent  teachers  within  the  limits 
of  a  suggestive  course. 

The  second  fundamental  question  would  be:  What  must 
be  the  aim  of  a  rational  course  of  study?  The  answer  to 
this  question,  surely,  depends  upon  the  answer  to  another: 
What  is  the  meaning  of  education,  notably  school  education? 
To  avoid  a  lengthy  discussion  of  this  question  which  has  been 
answered  quite  differently  by  different  persons  and  at  differ- 
ent times,  the  author  may  be  permitted  to  suggest  his  own 
answer  at  once.  In  his  estimation  the  purpose  of  educational 
efforts  is  threefold:  First,  to  mediate  to  the  young  the  ex- 
perience of  the  race;  second,  to  minister  to  the  perfection  of 
our  race;  third,  to  place  each  individual  in  a  position  that  he 
may  work  out  his  own  salvation  and  destiny  in  his  own  in- 
dividual best  way. 

If  this  definition  is  accepted,  the  aim  of  a  course  of  in- 
struction would  also  present  a  threefold  aspect.  There 
should  be: 

(i)    Information  and  experience; 

(2)  Training  and   exercise; 

(3)  Individual  tests,  universality  of  opportunity,  and 
freedom  of  expression. 

The  ultimate  aim  would  appear  to  be  the  development  of 


8o        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

powet  and  character  in  the  individual. 

Tht  traditional  course  of  study  clung  to  the  "three  R's", 
and  such  things  as  geography,  history,  music,  drawing,  gym- 
nastics, sewing,  shop  work,  nature  work,  were  only  admit- 
ted after  a  long  and  painful  struggle.  At  present,  an  or- 
dinary program  looks  pretty  full.  Teachers  sigh  whenever 
a  new  suggestion  is  made  because  it  means  new  effort,  more 
time;  or  less  time  to  the  old  branches,  and  yet  the  same 
amount  of  work,  or  "results",  seems  to  be  demanded  as 
before. 

How  can  this  difficulty  be  adjusted? 

A  review  of  the  chapter  on  the  "Principles  of  Co-ordina- 
tion" will  give  the  clue. 

In  the  first  place,  by  eliminating  unessential  details  from 
the  curriculum.  The  restriction  of  the  school  work  to  a 
few  branches  has  given  occasion  to  dwelling  too  much  on 
details,  and  this  detail  work  is  yet  haunting  our  minds,  be- 
ing mistaken  as  indispensable  when  it  can  only  too  readily 
be  dispensed  with.  Spelling,  grammar,  and  arithmetic  have 
been  veritable  fetiches.  Even  at  the  present  enlightened  age, 
some  schools  which  enjoy  an  enviable  reputation  endeavor 
to  teach  spelling  by  obliging  their  pupils  to  commit  page  af- 
ter page  from  a  dictionary  to  memory,  with  all  the  defini- 
tions and  variations.  The  spelling  of  a  vast  number  of  un- 
interesting, unintelligible  and  unusual  words,  for  the  sake 
of  "drill",  is  still  a  common  practice  in  many  schools.  Then 
there  is  the  attempt  to  inculcate  a  knowledge  of  grammati- 
cal relations  in  the  minds  of  children  whose  power  to  think 
in  abstract  forms  is  only  budding.  The  result  is  an  accumu- 
lation of  dead  matter  in  the  memory,  which  is  less  than 
worthless  for  the  development  of  correct  manners  of  speech. 
Of  these  things,  and  of  the  senseless  practices  in  arithmetic, 
there  will  be  occasion  to  say  more  in  the  chapters  devoted 
to  these  disciplines.  There  is  great  need  of  a  radical  sim- 
plification of  the  course  in  these  branches,  as  well  as  in  some 
others,  notably  penmanship.  Exhaustive  thoroness  within 
what  appear  to  the  adult  mind  "elementary"  limits  is  be- 
yond the  possibility  of  the  child. 

The  second  requirement  of  adjustment  is  a  proper  distri- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        8i 

button  of  the  work  so  that  the  different  parts  may  be  intro- 
duced at  times  when  there  is  least  friction  and  resistance 
in  the  assimilating  process  within  the  brain,  when  there  is  an 
awakening  interest.  In  a  later  part  of  this  chapter  the 
nascent  periods,  and  the  culture  epochs,  will  be  discussed 
more  fully.  Let  us  here  illustrate  what  a  proper  distribu- 
tion means  by  referring  briefly  to  the  waste  of  time  caused 
by  a  too  early  introduction  of  the  arts  of  reading  and  writ- 
ing. That  reading  and  writing  are  identical  with  "learn- 
ing" in  the  minds  of  still  too  many,  has  often  been  brought 
home  to  the  author  by  the  question  almost  regularly  asked 
of  him  when  he  suggested  to  teachers  the  omission  of  these 
two  branches  in  the  primary  grades,  postponing  them  to 
perhaps  the  third.  "But  what  else  can  we  teach?"  was  the 
puzzling  problem  confronting  the  amazed  pedagogs.  And 
parents  who  wanted  their  children  promoted  from  the  kin- 
dergarten to  the  primary  so  that  they  would  "learn  some- 
thing", had  the  same  perplexed  attitude  when  an  attempt 
was  made  to  argue  with  them. 

Children  of  six  or  seven  years  of  age  are  far-sighted,  and 
the  fine  adjustment  to  the  requirements  of  the  printed  page 
are  directly  injurious.  Then  there  is  the  evident  lack  of 
muscular  control  in  eye  and  hand  at  this  stage,  in  both  read- 
ing and  writing.  In  writing,  this  lack  of  control  has  long 
suggested  the  use  of  slates  in  the  primaries.  There  have 
been  schools  where  the  pupils  were  hardly  ever  allowed  to 
outgrow  the  slate  stage  for  rapid  practice  at  any  time.  And 
yet,  few  things  were  more  injurious  than  slates.  They  make 
a  heavy  hand,  and  cause  a  waste  of  time  in  after  years 
for  the  pupils  and  acquire  a  fair  degree  of  fluency  in 
writing.  Of  the  hygienic  objections  to  the  use  of  slates, 
most  teachers  ought  now  be  thoroly  convinced.  Penman- 
ship ought  not  to  require  much  time;  if  a  rational  sjrstem  is 
used,  it  may  be  considered  almost  incidental.  The  intro- 
duction of  simplified  forms,  either  vertical  or  with  a  "modi- 
fied" slant,  has  already  done  much  toward  a  solution  of  the 
problem  of  teaching  penmanship  without  undue  sacrifice  of 
time. 

This  reflection  suggests  the  third  requirement  of  adjust- 


82        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

ment:    better   methods    of   presentation.      With    regard    to 
these,  the  following  considerations  offer  themselves: 

There  must  first  be  the  recognition  and  construction  of 
an  apperceptive  basis.  We  must  ascertain  what  the  chil- 
dren know  and  think,  what  concepts  were  formed  in  their 
minds  before  they  were  handed  to  our  care,  so  that  we  may 
build  upon  a  sure  and  safe  foundation.  As  said  before,  we 
take  too  many  things  for  granted  in  this  respect.  Even  the 
simplest  things  are  often  unknown,  or  imperfectly  known, 
to  young  children.  Dr.  K.  Lange's  experiments  in  the 
schools  of  Saxony  revealed  the  following  facts: 

Per  Cent,  of 

City  Chil-  Country 

Question   or   Concept:                        dren.  Children. 

( 1 )  Seen  the  sun  rise 1 8  42 

(2)  Seen  the  sun  set 23  58 

(3)  Seen  the  moon  and  the  stars 84  82 

(4)  Seen  and  heard  a  lark 20  70 

(5)  Seen  fish  swimming  wild 72  83 

(6)  Been  to  a  pond 51  86 

( 7 )  Been  to  a  brook  or  river 71  82 

(8)  Been  on  high  hill  or  mountain. ...   48  74 

(9)  Been  in  a  forest   63  86 

( 10)  Know  an  oak 18  57 

(11)  Seen  a  corn  or  wheat  field 64  92 

(12)  Know  how  bread  comes  from  grain.  28  63 

(13)  Seen  a  shoemaker  at  work 79  80 

( 14)  Seen  a  carpenter  at  work 55  62 

(15)  Seen  a  mason  at  work 86  92 

(16)  Been  in  a  church 50  49 

(17)  Know  aught  of  God 51  66 

Discoveries  of  this  character  may  be  easily  made  on  this 
side  of  the  water,  and  in  every  school  of  the  country.  And 
the  results  are  very  helpful.  They  show  that  not  in  any 
one  instance  were  all  the  children  informed  about  the  sim- 
ple concept  referred  to  in  the  question,  the  highest  per  cent, 
in  any  case  being  92 ;  in  many  cases  the  percentage  of  ignor- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        83 

ance  is  so  surprising  that  it  will  set  many  a  teacher  a  think- 
ing. And  again,  the  influence  of  the  environment  is  clearly 
seen;  upon  the  impressions  rendered  by  the  immediate  early 
environment  depends  largely  what  we  have  learnt  to  call  the 
apperceptive  basis.  How  true  this  is  can  be  demonstrated 
in  many  ways.  In  visiting  the  schools  of  a  Western  town 
some  time  ago,  I  invited  the  pupils  of  the  primary  classes  of 
different  buildings  to  draw  for  me  a  tree.  The  pupils  in  an 
outlying  district  drew,  almost  to  a  man,  pine  trees;  those 
living  within  the  town,  ordinary  foliage  trees.  The  school- 
house  in  the  outlying  district  was  surrounded  by  lofty  pines, 
and  the  concept  "tree"  was,  in  the  minds  of  these  children, 
intimately  connected  with  this  experience — a  pine  tree  was 
the  tree  for  them.  The  trees  in  the  town  itself  were  shade 
trees,  and  furnished  a  different  basis  for  conceptual  recogni- 
tion and  reference. 

In  Berlin,  some  years  ago,  in  a  similar  investigation,  the 
children  in  the  primary  grades  of  the  schools  were  asked 
whether  they  knew  what  a  mountain  was.  Now,  the  capital 
of  Germany  is  situated  in  a  plain  absolutely  devoid  of  eleva- 
tions. The  nearest  approach  to  a  hill  within  the  limits  of 
the  city  is  a  sandmound  complimentarily  appellated  "Kreuz- 
berg"  on  top  of  which  there  is  a  soldiers'  monument.  It 
caused  no  surprise  to  discover  that  the  children  whose  con- 
cept of  a  mountain  had  been  built  on  the  sand  of  this  mound, 
defined  a  mountain  as  being  an  elevation  "with  a  monument 
on  top".  The  monument  was  considered  a  necessary  requi- 
site of  a  mountain,  as  it  had  been  religiously  connected  with 
tie  first  formation  of  this  concept  in  their  young  minds. 

Then,  even  when  children  answer  a  certain  question,  as, 
for  instance,  "Have  you  seen  a  cow?"  in  the  affirmative,  it 
does  not  prove  that  they  state  a  fact  in  our  sense  of  the 
word.  It  may  happen  that  in  reply  to  the  next  question, 
"How  big  is  a  cow?"  they  will  tell  you  all  sizes  from  that  of 
a  butterfly  to  that  of  an  elephant.  They  may  have  seen  but 
a  picture  of  a  cow.  The  distinction  between  pictures  and 
real  things  is  not  readily  made  in  childhood ;  and  to  infer 
from  the  scale  of  a  picture  the  actual  size  of  an  object  is 
not  an  easy  matter  for  minds  untrained  in  the  experience  of 


84        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

ratio  and  proportion. 

Besides  taking  into  account  the  apperceptive  basis  which  is 
already  there,  we  must  see  to  it  that  for  all  the  new  concepts 
which  we  desire  to  mediate,  we  build  up  another  appropriate 
foundation.  This  alone  will  enable  the  child  to  advance  in 
mastering  the  world  around  him  conceptually,  and  to  assim- 
ilate the  wealth  of  new  impressions  which  await  him.  In 
this  process  we  shall  do  well  to  remember  that  the  child  is 
apt  to  employ  the  rudimentary  logical  method  of  analogy  to 
connect  later  facts  with  previous  experiences.  This  method 
often  leads  to  curious  mistakes,  and  it  is  only  the  very  watch- 
ful teacher  who  will  successfully  avoid  the  shoals  and  rocks 
of  false  analogies.  This  amusing  anecdote  will  illustrate  the 
point:  The  governess  was  giving  little  Tommy  a  grammar 
lesson  the  other  day.  "An  abstract  noun",  she  said,  "is  the 
name  of  something  which  you  can  think  of  but  not  touch. 
Can  you  give  an  example?"    Tommy:    "A  red-hot  poker." 

In  this  apperceptive  process  the  maxims  quoted  in  the  chap- 
ter on  co-ordination  assume  their  full  significance: 

From  the  known  to  the  unknown ; 

From  the  simple  to  the  complex ; 

From  the  concrete  to  the  abstract. 

From  the  concrete  material  in  the  immediate  environment 
of  the  child,  from  the  images  of  his  own  house  and  lawn,  the 
trees,  hills,  rocks,  valleys,  creeks,  rivers,  ponds,  etc. ;  of 
people  he  knows  and  occupations  he  sees  carried  on ;  of 
natural  processes  like  water  running  down  his  own  hill,  of 
dirt  washed  down  the  watersheds  of  his  own  road,  of  toy 
boats  floating  in  his  gutter,  etc.,  etc.,  from  all  this  he  must 
learn  to  construct  in  his  mind  concepts  of  things  remote,  of 
the  Himalayas,  the  oceans,  foreign  people,  and  all  the  won- 
derful things  that  make  up  the  life  of  nature  and  man. 
Words,  names,  pictures,  samples  of  material  even,  maps,  and 
the  like,  are  nothing  but  symbols,  meaningless  to  him  unless 
he  can  connect  them  with  real  experiences  of  his  own. 

It  is  plain  then  that  there  must  be  ample  opportunity  for 
learning  the  significance  of  the  symbols  mentioned.  There 
must  be  good  language  teaching  and  a  careful  study  of  the 
meaning  and  the  use  of  words;  children  must  learn  to  read 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        85 

maps,  drawings  and  pictures,  which,  by  the  way,  is  not  quite 
so  easy  and  convenient  as  it  may  seem. 

But  it  must  be  repeated  over  and  over  again  that  these 
things  are  after  all  only  symbols,  utterly  meaningless  and 
unintelligible  without  a  knowledge  of  the  realities  for  which 
they  stand.  It  is  sometimes  amazing  to  observe  how  intensely 
interested  even  young  children  are  sometimes  in  reading,  and 
how  they  will  swallow  book  after  book,  admired  by  their 
parents  who  pride  themselves  in  the  supposed  cleverness  of 
their  children;  but  the  question  may  be  asked  in  all  fairness: 
What  do  these  children  get  out  of  the  books  they  read?  Those 
who  care  to  investigate  will  discover  the  vast  number  of  ab- 
surd misconceptions  and  the  depth  of  ignorance  character- 
istic of  children  who  have  been  allowed  to  juggle  with  sym- 
bols which  had  no  meaning  in  fact  to  them. 

Begin,  then,  with  the  realities,  with  the  concrete  world  of 
objects.  Observation  and  experiment  are  the  basis  of  expe- 
rience. Let  us  not  confine  the  pupils  to  the  four  walls  of  the 
schoolroom.  Take  them  on  excursions  to  hill  and  forest,  thru 
the  city  streets  and  along  the  country  roads,  on  street  cars, 
cabs  and  elevated  trains,  railroads,  sailing  and  steam  vessels, 
to  shops  and  factories,  so  as  to  open  their  eyes  to  see,  their 
ears  to  hear,  to  train  all  their  senses  to  perceive  keenly.  Let 
us  teach  them  to  record  their  observations  accurately,  to  put 
them  in  order,  to  understand  their  significance,  to  draw  infer- 
ences, to  form  judgments.  Let  us  give  them  a  many-sided 
experience  of  this  sort  in  order  to  make  their  apperceptive 
basis  broad  and  strong. 

Follow  this  up  by  practical  work  and  experiment,  the  learn- 
ing by  doing.  The  school  garden  is  an  open-air  laboratory; 
the  shop,  an  accessory  to  the  science  room.  In  the  class  room, 
the  studio,  and  the  laboratories,  let  the  children  reproduce 
the  objects  of  knowledge,  mechanically,  in  manual  training; 
and  artistically,  with  brush,  pencil  and  in  clay;  and  symbo- 
lize the  life  about  them  in  their  games,  and  thru  the  typical 
occupations  representing  man's  conquest  of  nature  thru  mate- 
rial civilization.  This  latter  method  may  be  styled  the  dra- 
matic element  in  educational  instruction. 

All  this  will  build  up  and  strengthen  the  apperceptive  basis 


86        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

upon  which  the  entire  superstructure  of  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience is  to  rest. 

Another  requirement  of  better  method  is  individualization. 
As  the  apperceptive  basis  of  one  child's  mind  will  forever 
differ  from  that  of  another,  owing  to  the  fact  that  their 
early  environments  differed,  and  that  we  can  never  control 
or  equalize  the  various  environmental  conditions  which  de- 
termine their  impressions  and  modes  of  thought:  we  shall 
find  each  child  differently  prepared  for  the  various  lines  of 
thought  which  we  desire  to  start  in  their  minds ;  and  also  dif- 
ferently interested,  and  eager  and  anxious  to  follow  them. 
Each  child,  consequently,  may  be  expected  to  have  a  different 
point  of  vantage.  These  environmental  predispositions  are 
re-enforced  by  hereditary  influences  which  endow  the  chil- 
dren with  various  sets  of  talents,  attitudes,  and  aptitudes. 
We  must  not,  and  can  not,  make  the  attempt  to  grind  every 
child  in  the  same  mill,  or  try  to  turn  out  machine-made  grad- 
uates who  resemble  mechanically  the  same  pattern,  at  least 
instructionally. 

For  this  reason  a  course  of  study  must  present  a  great 
variety  of  subjects,  such  as  will  meet  the  various  needs  of  dif- 
ferent child  types.  This  demand  will  be  better  understood 
if  we  dismiss  from  our  mind  the  old  fallacy  that  it  is  the  pur- 
pose of  the  school  work  to  furnish  a  certain  amount  of  infor- 
mation to  the  pupil.  It  has  an  information  value,  also,  to 
be  sure;  but  this  is  in  a  way  secondary;  its  main  purpose  is 
to  develop  power.  Considered  in  this  light,  the  various 
branches  of  "study"  appear  as  so  many  tests  thru  which  we 
endeavor  to  penetrate  to  the  souls  of  our  pupils,  each  one  of 
whom  may  have  to  be  reached  by  a  very  particular  road  lead- 
ing to  his  individual  retreat. 

Likewise,  there  should  be  elasticity  in  grading  and  re- 
quirements so  as  to  do  justice  to  individual  aptitudes.  Neither 
the  non-mathematical  child  nor  the  constitutional  bad  speller 
ought  to  be  kept  back  in  the  grades,  on  account  of  his  pecu- 
liar disposition.  Nothing  is  more  pernicious  in  educational 
effort  than  to  preserve  the  lock-step  of  promotional  require- 
ments. "I  have  no  objection  to  'courses  of  study',  in  the 
sense  in  which  the  term  is  used,"  said  President  Nicholas 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        87 

Murray  Butler  once,  "but  I  object  very  much  to  the  theory 
that  the  child  who  is  able  to  take  the  third  step  must  not  be 
allowed  to  take  it  because  he  has  not  taken  the  second.  I  do 
not  believe  in  holding  a  child  back  for  the  sake  of  'thoroness' 
or  'completeness'  of  the  course  of  study.  I  believe  the  human 
mind  in  education  should  always  be  put  at  that  task  for 
which  it  is  competent." 

Another  consideration  is  this:  It  has  often  been  believed 
that  there  is  some  special  virtue  in  certain  studies  to  develop 
the  powers  of  the  mind  so  as  to  make  it  apt  to  take  up  other 
studies  with  greater  facility.  This  is  what  has  been  called  the 
"formal  value"  of  studies.  Mathematics,  specifically  arith- 
metic, as  far  as  the  elementary  school  is  concerned,  and  gram- 
mar, were  particularly  considered  as  having  a  large  amount 
of  "formal  value."  This  view  is  largely  erroneous,  and  it 
depends  principally  upon  the  kind  of  mind  to  determine  what 
studies  will  have  the  best  disciplinary  effect  upon  its  train- 
ing.   Every  training  is  preponderatingly  specific. 

Thru  correlation  in  the  sense  explained  in  chapter  ill, 
there  is  given  an  opportunity  for  making  one  subject  fruit- 
ful in  the  teaching  of  another.  Co-ordination,  consequently, 
is  the  third  requirement  of  improved  method. 

As  has  been  demonstrated  before,  co-ordination  means  first 
that  an  interrelation  of  the  subjects  taught  must  be  estab- 
lished. For  the  sake  of  convenience,  all  subjects  are  summed 
up  under  collective  heads.  Rector  Dorpfeld's  first  demand 
was:  normality  of  the  curriculum,  i.  e.  the  full  number  of 
branches.  Dr.  Harris,  in  his  formulation  of  the  Herbartian 
theory,  had  in  mind  five  co-ordinate  groups,  as  follows:  (i) 
mathematics;  (2)  geography,  as  the  elementary  form  of  sci- 
ence; (3)  literature;  (4)  grammar  and  language;  (5)  his- 
tory. These  systems  have  been  strongly  criticized,  and  the 
entire  theory  of  co-ordination  almost  fell  into  disrepute  on  ac- 
count of  these  artificial  applications  of  the  underlying  princi- 
ples, so  that  passivity  and  receptivity  were  considered  rather 
than  the  child's  own  activity  and  creative  power. 

It  seems  more  rational  to  divide  the  volume  of  human 
knowledge  which  should  be  mediated  to  the  child,  into  two 
main  departments,  with  this  understanding,  however,  that 


88        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

this  is  fundamentally  a  logical,  not  a  psychological  division, 
and  not  necessarily  as  such  a  basis  of  method  unless  it  is 
"psychologized"  (Dewey) ;  further,  that  this  division  is  not 
to  be  considered  dogmatical,  but  suggestive  and  tentative, 
for  the  purpose  of  surveying  the  entire  field  of  instruction; 
that  there  will  be  cross-references  between  the  two  depart- 
ments, that  they  will  constantly  condition  one  another,  and 
that  the  two  main  groups  as  here  differentiated  represent 
in  reality  only  two  different  aspects  of  the  same  thing. 

The  interrelated  scheme  presents  itself  somewhat  in  this 
form: 

A.    KNOWLEDGE 

(a)   Environment  (b)   History 

Geography  The  Past:  Man's  Evolution, 

(present  conditions).  The     Present:     Contempo- 

raneous History. 
Science  The  Outlook:     Civics,  Eth- 

ics, 
(evolution  and  laws).        American    and    general    his- 
tory. 
Geometry  Literature  and  art. 

(formal  side  of  geogra-     Language  and  languages, 
raphy). 

Mathematics  is  an  element  of  knowledge  pervading  all 
branches  (the  precise  cognition). 

Laboratory  and  constructive  work  is  a  method  of  acquiring 
knowledge : 

As  laboratory  work  it  pertains  to  environment; 

As  constructive  work  it  pertains  to  history  (occupations, 
development  of  civilization  thru  conquering  the  forces  of  na- 
ture). 

B.    DEVELOPMENT  OF  SELF-EXPRESSION 

Physical  Training,  including  music  and  gymnastics,  games, 
etc ;  composition ;  art  work ;  inventive  construction. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        89 

This  arrangement  is  based  upon  the  conception  of  the  aim 
and  function  of  education  as  submitted  in  the  beginning  of 
this  chapter. 

B. 

The  author's  second  contention  in  regard  to  the  applica- 
tion of  the  principle  of  co-ordination  to  a  rational  course  of 
instruction  was  this:  that  we  must,  in  distributing  the  ma- 
terial, follow  the  natural  stages  in  the  evolution  of  the 
child  soul;  in  other  words,  that  not  only  the  "nascent  peri- 
ods" for  the  various  interests  and  kinds  of  study  and  work 
should  be  carefully  watched  and  utilized,  but  that  the  entire 
course  must  be  so  laid  out  as  to  adjust  itself  as  closely  as 
possible  to  the  even  more  basic  successive  "culture  epochs^* 
characteristic  of  the  development  of  each  individual  child 
from  primitive  instincts  to  civilization.  Dr.  Stanley  Hall, 
Caswell  Ellis,  Prof.  Jackman  and  many  others  have  shown 
in  the  past  that  a  contemplation  of  these  demands  will  demon- 
strate beyond  doubt  that  the  school  grades  as  they  are  tra- 
ditionally established,  on  the  basis  of  the  information-idea  of 
education,  are  altogether  incommensurate  to  the  natural  order 
of  the  child's  development. 

Two  great  divisions  in  the  development  of  the  young  soul 
have  already  been  indicated,  viz.,  the  period  of  symbolism 
and  play,  and  the  subsequent  period  of  realism  and  work. 
For  illustration:  during  the  first  period,  man's  typical  occu- 
pations are  symbolized  and  imitated  in  games ;  in  the  second, 
they  are  taken  up  realistically  in  the  manual  work,  with  an 
increasing  degree  of  actuality.  Again,  first,  even  the  making 
of  things  will  have  symbolical  elements  in  it — the  making 
of  familiar  objects  on  a  small  scale,  e.  g.  on  the  dollhouse 
scale,  on  the  play  level,  using  a  few  tools  only  which  symbo- 
lize all  the  rest  (the  knife,  symbolizing  all  cutting  and  saw- 
ing instruments;  the  awl,  representing  all  boring  tools,  etc.)  ; 
in  the  second  period,  there  is  real  work,  in  due  proportion 
and  with  a  variety  of  typical  implements. 

And  along  another  line  of  interest:  first,  there  will  be  the 
pleasure  in  myths  and  fairy  tales,  representing  that  stage  in 


90        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

human  development  when  all  the  world  surrounding  primi- 
tive man  was  wonderland ;  this  will  be  followed  by  an  appre- 
ciation of  cause  and  effect,  in  science  and  history.  In  the 
first  stage  of  observation  and  experiment,  the  sand  table,  or 
the  sand  heap,  and  a  little  garden  plot  will  supply  practically 
all  the  needs  of  the  child ;  in  the  second,  there  will  be  experi- 
ment in  laboratories,  workshops,  school  gardens,  etc. 

This  suggests  the  problem  of  the  proper  sequence,  not  so 
much  of  the  studies  as  such,  but  of  fittingly  selected  topics 
within  the  different  groups  of  work.  And  it  must  be  under- 
stood that  it  is  not  a  logical  sequence  which  is  needed,  in  con- 
formity perhaps  with  some  strictly  scientific  classification; 
but  a  growth  sequence,  one  which  follows  biological  and 
psychological  data  and  laws. 

Thus,  in  following  the  nascent  periods,  we  may  at  differ- 
ent stages  have  to  emphasize  different  kinds  of  work,  and 
omit  other  kinds,  or  carry  them  along  with  diminished  effort. 

The  culture  epoch  theory  which  is  basic  to  this  concep- 
tion, will  here  be  outlined  briefly  as  it  presents  itself  to  the 
author's  mind  on  the  strength  of  modem  researches  into 
child  psychology  and  anthropology. 

Four  periods  may  be  distinguished  in  the  evolution  of  the 
child,  altho  it  would  be  hazardous  to  attempt  the  fixing  of 
age  limits  without  allowing  a  large  amount  of  margin  either 
way.  Individuals  differ  in  regard  to  the  length,  and  even  the 
perspicuity  and  definiteness  of  characteristics,  of  these  periods ; 
and  while  we  may  recognize,  in  a  general  way,  the  sequence 
of  evolutional  manifestations,  and  set  down,  tentatively,  limits 
of  age  for  each  epoch,  there  is  no  lock-step,  and  much  individ- 
ual variation.    The  four  periods  thus  distinguishable  are: 

(i)  The  human  animal  stage,  up  to  perhaps  6  years  of 
age; 

(2)  The  race  period,  from  6  to  ii ; 

(3)  Differentiation  of  national  characteristics,  from  11  to 

(4)  Evolution  of  individual  traits  proper,  from  15  up. 
Let  us  consider  the  four  periods  a  little  more  in  detail. 
The  first  stage  has  been  designated  as  the  stage  of  the 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        91 

Human  Animals 

It  is  the  stage  from  birth  to  about  the  fifth  or  sixth  year. 
On  seeing  the  light,  the  baby,  altho  surely  the  "heir  of 
ages",  is  just  emerging  from  the  realm  of  the  unconscious 
to  the  assumption  of  animal  functions.  The  human  in  him, 
altho  it  is  there  in  potentiality,  is  embryonic;  the  infant  rep- 
resents the  first  period  of  differentiation  in  the  evolution  of 
the  human  species,  as  distinguished  from  the  lower  crea- 
tion. The  baby's  movements  are  largely  of  the  animal  type, 
and  even  his  muscular  control,  his  intellectual  activity,  rudi- 
mentary as  it  is,  and  his  incipient  reasoning,  are  on  the  ani- 
mal level.  The  clinging  power  of  the  hands  of  infants  has 
often  been  commented  upon;  it  reminds  us  of  the  arboreal 
life  of  the  immediate  ancestors  of  the  human  race,  perhaps 
of  the  "missing  link",  and  surely  of  the  first  stages  of  human 
life.  The  baby  is  bom  with  a  "monkey  thumb" ;  the  humani- 
zation  of  the  thumb,  that  is  to  say  the  power  to  set  it  op- 
posite the  other  fingers,  is  a  later  development.  The  move- 
ments are  pre-eminently  reflex  in  character,  without  the  inter- 
vention of  the  conscious  brain  levels;  they  are  controlled 
by  the  spinal  chord,  and  represent  the  muscular  activity 
earliest  acquired  by  the  animal  creation  and  perpetuated  in 
the  form  of  stereotyped  instincts.  These  movements  con- 
cern the  body  as  a  whole,  and  the  limbs  as  wholes.  Kick- 
ing, dropping,  digging,  piling,  are  among  the  movements  of 
this  group. 

Gradually,  certain  lower  parts  of  the  brain  itself  come 
into  activity.  The  years  from  one  to  three  contain,  it  has 
been  shown,  the  greater  part  of  all  education,  taking  educa- 
tion in  its  broadest  sense.  For  in  these  few  years,  the  funda- 
mental habits  of  activity  are  acquired,  on  the  basis  of  in- 
herited animal  instincts.  The  pre-human,  and  primitive 
human  periods  comprise  the  longest  epoch  in  the  develop- 
ment of  civilization  compared  with  which  later  civilized 
life  itself  is  but  an  episode  as  yet;  no  wonder  that  the  cor- 
responding epoch  in  the  child's  life  is  basic,  and  pregnant 
with  formative  elements. 

The  reflex  habits  of  obedience,  cleanliness,  truthfulness, 


92        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

etc.,  are  now  acquired  and  fixed.  As  habits,  these  faculties 
have  no  ethical  significance;  but  unless  the  foundation  of 
the  well-regulated  life  is  now  laid  in  the  forms  of  fixed 
modes  of  conduct,  the  character  of  the  individual  will  for- 
ever lack  the  element  of  stability.  But  it  needs  no  argu- 
ment to  show  that  these  "virtuous"  habits  are  after  all  not 
yet  human,  but  animal  in  kind. 

This  contention  must  not  be  misunderstood.  The  baby 
is,  notwithstanding  all  that  has  here  been  said,  a  human  be- 
ing, differentiated  as  such  even  before  birth,  and  having  a 
human  organism,  a  human  brain,  etc.  Thus,  all  these  de- 
velopments, altho  they  are  on  the  animal  level,  appear  in 
human  form,  with  human  modifications  and  with  adapta- 
tions to  the  human  environment  into  which  the  child  is 
bom. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  months,  the  child  has  been  called 
"mentally  the  equal  of  the  mature  ape."  But  there  is 
one  particular  instinct  which  even  at  this  early  stage  differ- 
entiates the  baby  from  the  animal  world:  the  language  in- 
stinct asserts  itself  in  the  second  year  of  his  life,  even  earlier. 
It  becomes  evident  in  the  baby's  tendency  to  "name"  every- 
thing he  comes  in  contact  with,  imitating,  even  tho  imper- 
fectly, the  names  he  hears,  or  even  inventing  name 
words  of  his  own  choosing.  There  is  an  interesting  parallel 
between  this  naming  period  of  the  baby,  and  the  Paradise 
story  which  relates  how  "God  .  .  .  brought  every  beast 
of  the  field,  and  every  fowl  of  the  air  unto  Adam  to  see  what 
he  would  call  them :  and  whatsoever  Adam  called  every  living 
creature,  that  was  the  name  thereof."  (Genesis  2,  19). 
This  shows  that  even  the  early  records  of  man's  dominion 
on  earth  recognize  the  "naming"  of  things  to  be  the  first 
evidence  of  intellectual  awakening. 

At  the  age  of  three,  the  idea  of  "outside"  and  "inside", 
that  is  of  "body"  and  what  is  "inside  the  body",  begins  to 
dawn  upon  the  child.  This  indicates  the  awakening  of  the 
sense  of  life  and  of  personality,  and  indeed,  from  now  on, 
the  child  recognizes  himself  as  a  self,  as  an  "I"  in  distinc- 
tion from  other  selves. 

The  animal  and  primitive  trait  of  fetich  worship  may  be 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        93 

observed  in  children  at  this  stage;  dolls,  curiosities  of  vari- 
ous kinds,  playthings,  etc.,  often  appear  distinctly  in  the 
role  of  fetiches.  There  is  an  element  of  superstition  and 
fear  in  these  early  notions  concerning  which  G.  Stanley 
Hall  has  made  investigations  which  may  now  be  considered 
fundamental.  The  child  indulges  in  abstruse  symbols  and 
develops  a  sort  of  materialistic,  or  rather  pagan,  theology. 
Even  animals  may  be  considered  to  have  rudimentary  traits 
of  what  may  be  styled  religious  conceptions. 

The  next  step  in  this  period  is  the  rise  of  free  spontaneous 
imitations  of  adult  institutions  and  occupations  such  as  have 
found  recognition  in  the  kindergarten  games.  Even  in  these, 
the  dramatic  instinct  of  the  children  crops  out  with  peculiar 
force.  This  dramatic  instinct  is  a  valuable  help  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  sense  of  self,  as  different  from  other  selves, 
by  the  attempt  to  place  one's  self  into  the  position  of  some- 
body else,  imitating  him.  Not  only  is  thus  the  difference  of 
the  individual  from  other  individuals  emphasized,  but  surely 
an  element  of  altruism  is  first  introduced,  inasmuch  as  the 
child,  by  thus  entering  into  the  life  of  others,  learns  to  ap- 
preciate their  rights.  He  may,  in  a  fanciful  way,  even  ex- 
change his  personality,  as  it  were,  with  that  of  his  friends,  and 
create  for  himself  a  world  of  reversed  conditions.  All  this 
means  to  him  an  exploration  of  possibilities;  and  judging 
of  children  we  must,  before  condemning  them  as  prevari- 
cators and  performers,  take  this  dramatic  instinct  into  con- 
sideration. Children  are  born  actors,  and  it  has  been  main- 
tained that  great  actors  are  essentially  childlike  in  their 
nature. 

In  a  similar  way,  the  child  of  this  age  will  surround  him- 
self with  a  number  of  imaginary  companions.  In  other  words, 
he  will  add  to  the  real  things  of  his  environment  which  he 
sometimes  endows  with  strange,  fantastic  qualities,  creatures 
of  his  own  imagination  which  have  no  external  reality  at 
all.  The  imaging  activity  of  the  young  mind  is  as  yet 
non-discriminating;  and  the  limits  of  reality  and  imagery 
are  indistinct. 

In  the  counting  period,  which  follows  the  naming  period, 
the  child  rises  to  a  clearer  conception  of  values  and  proper- 


94        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

tion.  Primitive  counting  is  bound  up  with  objects,  and  based 
upon  the  sense  of  rhythm  in  movement  and  sequence,  and 
gradually  extends  to  the  appreciation  of  the  harmonious  ar- 
rangement of  groups  which  are  numerically  identical.  The 
mathematical  concept,  then,  is  of  later  nascency  than  the  lingu- 
istic* The  counting  period,  covering  the  age  from  about 
five  to  seven,  and  indicating  the  dawn  of  precise  cognition, 
also  marks  the  transition  to  the  next  "culture  epoch". 

The  Race  Period. 

At  the  age  of  six,  or  thereabouts,  the  race  traits  awaken. 
The  human  species  differentiates  itself,  in  the  rising  conscious- 
ness of  each  young  scion  of  the  common  stock,  into  racial 
groups,  differing  from  one  another  in  consequence  of  influ- 
ences that  shaped  the  various  primitive  types.  These  racial 
differences  are  deeply  ingrained  in  the  soul  of  the  children, 
and  manifest  themselves  in  the  order  of  their  natural  succes- 
sion. Now,  the  Caucasian  child  differentiates  himself  from 
the  Negro;  the  Aryan  issue  from  the  Semitic;  the  Teuton 
from  the  Celt.  There  is  now  a  gradual  outgrowing  of  the 
stage  in  which  crude,  material  symbols  helped  the  nascent 
mind  to  develop  the  rudiments  of  thinking;  and  higher  spir- 
itual symbols  are  evolved.  Many  primitive  religious  notions, 
such  as  are  reverberations  of  racial  religious  lore,  crop  up; 
doll  fetichism  is  merging  into  mythological  and  dogmatical 
conventions.  The  early  race  period  has  nothing  of  the  demo- 
cratic spirit  about  it,  not  even  in  those  children  who  represent 
races  that  were  liberty-loving  from  the  first;  this  is  the  age 
of  submission  to  authority  and  implicit  belief. 

Physically,  children  of  this  age  need  exercises  exciting 
growth.    Fingers  and  hands  are  now  becoming  partially  free 


♦More  details  in  respect  to  these  developments  will  be  pre- 
sented in  those  of  the  following  chapters  which  are  devoted  to 
the  special  topics  included  in  the  proposed  scheme  of  instruc- 
tion. At  the  end  of  this  chapter,  the  reader  will  find  a  partial 
list  of  earlier  studies  upon  the  results  of  which  the  mam  line 
pf  this  argument  is  based. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        95 

from  the  lower  simultaneous  impulse,  and  can  move  in  a  fair 
degree  independently.  As  shown  in  a  previous  chapter,  the 
development  of  muscular  control  is  as  follows :  body,  shoulder, 
arm,  forearm,  hand.  But  not  before  the  ninth  year  is  ma- 
turity in  hand  and  finger  control  reached,  and  the  freedom 
of  the  wrist  movement  not  earlier  than  the  eleventh. 

With  the  ability  to  handle  tools,  as  produced  by  these  de- 
velopments of  control,  goes  hand  in  hand  the  increasing  inter- 
est in  tool  work.  Thru  working  with  tools,  primitive  man 
created  civilization  and  developed  his  mind;  but  not  before 
man  was  ready  for  racial  differentiation  was  there  much 
chance  of  his  being  deft  with  tools. 

Sailing,  rowing,  swimming  and  other  primitive  exercises 
and  occupations  upon  which  the  life  of  early  man  depended, 
excite  the  intensest  interest  in  children  of  this  period.  Tag, 
and  other  games  of  this  nature,  reveal  reverberation  of  the 
hunting  instinct  and  of  savage  warfare.  There  are  obvious 
nomadic  inclinations:  the  instinct  to  run  away  and  roam,  the 
great  interest  in  animals  and  animal  pets.  The  wandering 
life  of  the  early  tribes  which  differentiated  the  races  from 
the  common  stock  from  which  they  separated  themselves  in 
their  search  for  new  hunting  grounds  and  fresh  pastures,  and 
the  period  of  domesticating  the  wild  creatures  of  prairie  and 
forest  are  revived  in  these  tendencies.  All  the  actions  of  this 
period  are  impulsive  and  instinctive,  without  the  intervention 
of  much  conscious  deliberation,  showing  that  they  are  mani- 
festations of  hereditary  influences.  The  children  are  very 
suggestible  and  easily  impressed  at  this  time,  just  as  the  early 
nations  were  plastic  and  open  to  the  influences  of  their  en- 
vironment. Environment  was  the  most  prominent  factor  in 
racial  differentiation,  and  likewise  the  child  of  the  correspond- 
ing period  is  the  creature  of  his  environment. 

A  few  more  detailed  statements  about  the  different  years  of 
this  period  may  here  be  added. 

At  seven  the  speech  organs  have  just  completed  their 
growth  and  are  still  pliant.  The  interest  in  names  is  still 
prominent.  The  period  of  from  seven  to  eleven  is  the  prime 
epoch  for  language  teaching.  At  eight  the  interest  in  "se- 
cret", made-up  languages  reaches  its  maximum.    In  reasoning 


96        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

there  is  but  the  beginning  of  the  logical  process,  very  little 
rationalizing,  in  spite  of  the  many  questions  into  the  where- 
for  and  how  and  why.  The  children  are  as  a  rule  satisfied 
with  any  answer  we  give  them.  They  are  fond  of  comparing 
things  as  to  their  qualities,  in  this  way  laying  in  a  stock  of 
valuable  concepts. 

In  their  story  interest  the  eighth  year  marks  a  transition 
by  the  appearance  of  the  question:  Is  it  true?  The  mere 
fairy  tale  gives  way  to  stories  like  Robinson  Crusoe;  the 
Homeric  Stage  is  reached,  and  the  beginning  interest  in  his- 
tory centers  in  persons,  leading  up  to  true  hero-worship 
at  the  age  of  pubescence.  This  reminds  us  of  the  age  of  the 
Bard  and  Singer  at  the  courts  of  ancient  kings.  It  must  not 
be  understood,  however,  that  there  is  as  yet,  that  is  to  say 
during  the  early  part  of  the  racial  period,  much  desire  to 
ascertain  the  actual  truth;  the  child  will  still  believe  you 
implicitly  when  you  tell  him  the  story  is  true. 

Up  to  nine  years  there  is  preference  for  geometrical  prob- 
lems and  puzzles:  form  and  size,  the  concrete  side  of  things, 
mean  more  to  them  than  number,  or  the  quantitative  side. 
Not  until  this  year  is  passed  does  the  interest  for  arithmetical 
puzzles  awaken. 

The  tenth  year  is  a  year  of  important  changes,  preparing 
the  transition  to  a  more  advanced  development.  The  pre- 
pubertal period  begins,  and  the  body  is  getting  ready  for  new 
adaptations.  It  is  now  that  a  change  takes  place  from  simple 
belief  to  doubt  and  disbelief  in  superstitions.  There  is  a 
pleasure  noticeable  in  thinking  out  logical  sequences,  starting 
with  the  simple  causative  series  of  the  order  of  "the  house  that 
Jack  built".  The  children  begin  to  take  an  interest  in  classi- 
fication, marking  the  dawn  of  logical  categories  and  abstract 
thinking.  The  nomadic,  separatistic  tendencies  give  way  to 
tribal  inclinations.  Boys  band  together  in  athletic  game 
clubs,  in  predatory  societies,  for  fishing  trips,  camping  expedi- 
tions, etc. ;  there  is  a  pronounced  interest  in  Indian  life,  ad- 
venture, peril.  Games  of  competition  are  much  indulged  in, 
and  the  exultation  of  victory,  the  delight  in  teasing  and  bully- 
ing and  in  "practical  jokes",  are  relics  of  primordial  war- 
fare. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        97 

Now  the  national  traits  commence  to  assert  themselves.  At 
II  there  is  a  maximum  of  predatory  societies.  The  nation- 
making  instincts  stand  foremost  in  the  minds  of  the  children. 
But  it  is  the  colonizing,  conquering,  adventurous  epoch  of 
the  incipient  nation  which  is  here  recapitulated.  The  Ger- 
manic tribes  of  whose  modem  descendants  these  statements 
are  particularly  true,  were  migratory  tribes,  and  it  was  the 
"migration  of  peoples"  which  shaped  the  nations  that  are  now 
in  the  lead  of  civilization.  Hughes  speaks  of  the  age  of  ii 
and  12  years  as  "the  most  reckless  time  of  British  youth." 

It  ought  to  be  self-evident  that  the  traditional  school 
work  is  less  adapted  to  this  period  than  to  any  other;  and 
at  no  time  does  the  child,  especially  the  boy,  hate  the  school 
prison  more  than  now.  This  is  the  age  of  pupil-suicides.  The 
fifth  grade,  the  grade  of  the  pre-pubertal  period,  is  a  con- 
spicuous failure  in  most  schools.  The  interest  of  the  chil- 
dren does  not  center  in  nouns  and  adjectives,  or  least  com- 
mon multiples  and  greatest  common  divisors,  and  such 
things,  but  in  the  stories  of  heroes  and  adventure. 

Sexual  differentiation  in  the  physical  life  and  in  interest 
begins  to  set  in.  Boys,  from  ii  to  12,  reach  their  maximum 
of  industrial  organizations;  girls,  from  11  to  16,  have  their 
counterpart  in  the  maximum  interest  in  social  clubs.  Boys 
now  commence  to  learn  the  art  of  community-making ;  girls, 
the  art  of  home-making. 

At  the  age  of  12,  broadly  speaking, 

The  National  Spirit 

is  bom.  There  is  now  a  maximum  of  life  intensity.  The 
upper  level  of  association  centers  and  fibres  in  the  brain 
develops ;  in  other  words,  the  primordial  reflex  activity  is  be- 
coming transformed  into  brain  function.  Instead  of  the 
reflex  responding  to  every  impulse,  or  every  impulse  being 
directly  translated  into  action,  there  is  now  a  co-operation 
of  the  brain  centers  which  serve  to  r^ulate,  and  occasionally 
to  check,  impulsive  responses.  Control  and  inhibition 
evolve;  thought  is  born — real  thought  which  has  been 
styled  by  some  psychologists  as  "repressed  action." 


98        THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

The  organization  tendency  is  at  its  height;  the  boys  rally 
around  leaders  and  indulge  in  hero-worship.  In  girls,  the 
same  tendency  leads  to  the  formation  of  sentimental  friend- 
ships and  incipient  love  affairs  in  which  they  worship  with 
exaggerated  fervor  some  person,  or  persons,  whom  their 
fancy  selects.  The  boys'  heroes  and  the  girls'  friendships 
are  powerful  agencies  in  the  building  up  of  their  characters. 
This  is  therefore  a  period  requiring  very  great  attention 
and  caution,  and  much  special  study. 

Gradually,  the  child  awakens  to  independent  thinking 
and  logical  reasoning. 

The  Individual  Attitude 

arises,  often  with  much  over-confident  self-assertion,  in  op- 
position to  heretofore  recognized  standards.  At  the  same 
time,  changes  are  noticeable  which  bring  to  light  latent 
heredities  of  family  traits. 

Family  and  personal  characteristics  combine  finally  to 
form  the  individual  whose  birth  may  be  considered  to  take 
place  at  the  age  of  about  15  years.  We  have,  then,  this 
sequence  of  developmental  stages:  species,  race,  nation,  fam- 
ily, individual. 

Now  there  enters  into  the  formation  of  mind  and  char- 
acter the  element  of  individual  differentiation,  attitude  and 
aptitude,  of  choice  and  selection.  The  aboriginal  selfishness 
slowly  gives  place  to  altruistic  emotions,  and  the  basis  of 
that  youthful  enthusiasm  which  is  creative  and  world-cen- 
tered. 

Let  us  understand  that  what  has  been  said  in  these  pages 
is  merely  a  rough  outline  of  evolutional  stages  which  will  re- 
pay more  detailed  study,  and  which  determine  the  rational 
basis  of  a  course  of  education  and  instruction.  The  applica- 
tion of  the  facts  here  enumerated  seems  easy  enough  in  the 
general  aspect,  but  is  certainly  difficult  in  detail  and  indi- 
vidual adaptation.  Much  will  depend  upon  the  insight  and 
tact  of  the  teacher  who  must  be  given  a  great  deal  of  lati- 
tude for  immediate  and  varying  adjustment.  The  course, 
as  indicated  in  another  place,  must  preserve  a  wholesome  de- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD        99 

gree  of  elasticity,  to  allow  of  sensible  modification  and  adap- 
tation. 

As  early  as  1894,  in  the  author's  little  book,  "The  Com- 
mon School  and  the  New  Education",  the  following  sug- 
gestions were  made: 

"The  graded  course  of  instruction  .  .  .  should  com- 
prise the  germs  of  all  knowledge  in  the  lower  stages  as  well 
as  in  the  higher  and  progress  should  be  sought  by  way  of 
a  gradual  widening  of  the  pupils'  horizon  in  concentric 
circles,  as  it  were,  rather  than  pushing  forward  in  certain 
particular  directions. 

"While  thus  each  class,  or  grade,  of  the  common  school 
should  impart  to  its  pupils  such  knowledge  as  may  be  consid- 
ered a  whole  in  itself,  so  that  no  matter  at  what  stage  or  age 
the  children  leave  school  they  may  take  with  them  an  edu- 
cation which  is,  as  far  as  it  goes,  complete  and  all  'round; 
there  will,  in  the  higher  grades,  be  the  need  of  differentia- 
tion. Pupils  of  the  requisite  intellectual  ability  who  are 
desirous  of  pursuing  the  higher  courses  of  learning,  might 
well  be  accommodated,  even  while  they  are  still  in  the  com- 
mon school,  by  substituting  for  some  of  the  ordinary 
branches  other  studies  which  have  not  only  an  educational  or 
formal  value,  but  may  at  the  same  time  serve  as  introduc- 
tory to  the  higher  courses.  They  may  also  be  taxed  intel- 
lectually in  a  greater  measure  than  those  whose  natural  abil- 
ities or  aims  run  lower  and  who  should  for  their  part  be 
given  the  opportunity  to  finish  a  relatively  simplified  ele- 
mentary course  which  is  complete  in  itself. 

"In  other  words,  in  the  sixth  or  seventh  school  year,  at  a 
period  of  the  child's  life  when  his  natural  tendencies  and 
capacities  have  had  time  to  develop  sufficient  strength,  the 
curriculum  of  the  public  school  might  branch  out  in  two 
distinct  directions,  the  one  leading  on  toward  higher  intel- 
lectual achievements  and  the  learned  professions,  the  other 
tending  to  finish  the  common  school  course  proper.  Care 
must  be  taken  not  to  erect  insurmountable  barriers  .  .  . 
so  that  a  passing  from  one  to  the  other,  when  found  ad- 
visable or  desirable,  may  not  be  prohibited." 

Of  the  sexual  differentiation  which  means  a  differentia- 


loo      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

tion  in  interests  and  aptitudes,  and  which  occurs  at  about 
the  same  time  for  which  this  branching  out  of  the  course  has 
been  suggested,  something  has  been  said  before.  In  the  last 
chapter  of  this  volume,  on  "High  School  Education  and 
Secondary  DiflFerentiation",  more  will  be  suggested  in  re- 
gard to  the  needs  of  that  particular  period.  There  is  an- 
other factor  which  should  be  considered  in  the  adaptation 
of  the  school  work  to  different  wants,  and  that  is  the  dif- 
ference in  the  rate  of  growth  and  development  which  is 
noticeable  in  children. 

It  will  be  recognized  that  the  main  function  of  a  rational 
course  of  study  is  not  to  prepare  children  for  any  particular 
occupation,  or  for  any  utilitarian  object,  but  to  develop  their 
human  and  individual  faculties  to  the  fullest  extent  so 
that  they  become  truly  humanized  and  civilized  in  the  service 
of  the  highest  ideals.  Only  he  who  is  in  the  best  sense  a 
man  will  be  the  most  useful  citizen,  wage-earner,  or  pro- 
fessional worker.  A  quotation  from  Prof.  Wm.  F.  Phelps' 
little  Chautauqua  text  book  on  the  Greek  philosopher  Soc- 
rates may  fitly  close  this  chapter: 

"His  antipathies  were  strong  against  the  whole  system  ot 
acquiring  knowledge,  as  it  was  termed,  for  use.  The  thing 
to  be  accomplished,  he  avowed,  was  to  become  true  men,  and 
the  uses  would  follow.  Does  the  oak  of  centuries  send  out 
its  strong  arms  that  they  may  cast  a  shadow?  On  the  con- 
trary, it  ascends  and  spreads  thru  the  vigor  of  its  inner  life, 
and  then  tribes  and  nations  sit  down  under  its  grateful 
shade.  This  is  a  cardinal  truth.  Knowledge  attained  with 
a  view  chiefly  to  specific  uses  never  forms  the  man,  and  it 
is  not  true  knowledge.  First  and  last,  therefore,  it  was  the 
counsel  of  Socrates,  BE  MEN!" 

A    PARTIAL    LIST   OF    BOOKS   AND    ARTICLES   CONSULTED 

GULICK,  "Aspects  of  Group  Games,"  Pedagogical  Seminary, 

VI,  2. 

KROHN,  "Physical  Growth  Periods  and  Appropriate  Exer- 
cises", Fonim,  June,  1899. 

VOSTROVSKY,  "A  Study  of  Children's  Superstitions", 
Studies  in  Education,  October,  1896. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       loi 

STARBUCK,  "Psychology  of  Religion",  American  Journal  of 
Psychology,  ix,  I. 

SHELDON,  "Institutional  Activities  of  American  Children", 
lb.  IX,  4- 

LINDSAY,  "A  Study  of  Puzzles",  lb.  vni,  4. 

PHILLIPS,  "Number  and  its  Application",  Pedagogfical  Sem- 
inary, Oct.,  1897. 

BURK,  "Growth  of  Children",  American  Journal  of  Psychol- 
ogy, IX,  3. 

TRIPLETT,  "Pacemaking  and  Competition",  lb.  ix,  4. 

BURK,  "Development  of  the  Nervous  System",  lb.  x,  I. 

HALL  and  ALLIN,  "Tickling  and  Laughing",  lb.  ix,  i. 

CHRISMAN,  "Children's  Secret  Languages",  Child  Study 
Monthly,  Sept.,  1896. 

DAVIS,  "Children's  Interest  in  the  Causal  Idea",  lb. 

BARNES,  "A  Study  in  Children's  Interest",  Studies  in  Educa- 
tion, I,  6. 

BURK,  "Teasing  and  Bullying",  Pedagogical  Seminary,  April, 

1897. 

ELLIS,  "Suggestions  for  a  Philosophy  of  Education",  lb.  Oct, 
1897. 

SULLY,  "Studies  of  Childhood." 

HALL,  "Some  Aspects  of  the  Early  Sense  of  Self",  American 
Journal  of  Psychology,  ix,  3. 

HALL,  "A  Study  of  Fears",  lb.  viii,  2. 

ALLIN,   "Social  Recapitulations",  Educational   Review   Nov., 

1899. 

VAN  LIEW,  "Racial  Traits  in  the  Group  Activity  of  Chil- 
dren", N.  E.  A.  Proc,  1899. 

MONROE,  "Play  Interests  of  Children",  lb. 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Manual  Principle 

IT  is  now  generally  admitted  that  industrial  training, 
i.  e.,  professional  training  and  preparation  for  good 
artisanship,  for  trades,  for  technical  pursuits  of  all  sorts, 
elementary  and  higher,  should  receive  much  more  at- 
tention in  this  country  than  it  has  received  so  far. 
Manual  Training,  however,  educationally  understood,  is  a 
different  thing.  It  is  not  proposed  on  account  of  its 
possible  effect  upon  so-called  practical  pursuits,  or  on  ac- 
count of  its  trade  or  industrial  value;  such  it  has,  without 
question,  and  children  having  received  good  manual  train- 
ing will  be  better  fitted  for  "practical"  occupations  than 
those. whose  training  was  one-sidedly  formal.  But  it  cannot 
be  the  aim  of  the  public  school  to  make  artisans  of  all  pupils. 
On  the  other  hand  we  may  even  go  a  step  further:  in  this 
age  when  machinery  is  superseding  hand  labor  with  growing 
rapidity,  we  shall  often  observe  that  much  suffering  is  caused 
by  this  transition  to  new  modes  of  production,  for  those  who 
are  thrown  out  of  employment,  and  who  find  it  difficult  to 
re-adjust  themselves  to  the  new  conditions  and  to  new  and 
different  lines  of  work.  It  may  safely  be  assumed  that  chil- 
dren who  were  educated  in  schools  where  their  manual  dex- 
terity was  developed  more  or  less  parallel  to  the  intellectual 
training  they  received,  will  be  better  able  than  their  fathers 
were  before  them  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  changing  phases 
of  industrial  evolution,  both  by  having  a  better  mental  grasp 
of  the  situation,  and  by  having  acquired  skill  and  a  mastery 
of  tools  and  materials  along  various  typical  lines  of  activity. 
But  this  result,  while  natural  and  welcome,  may  here  be  con- 

102 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       103 

sidered  as  incidental;  it  is  not  the  first  and  foremost  aim 
of  the  movement  on  behalf  of  manual  training.  This  aim 
is  purely  educational.  Manual  training,  in  this  sense,  is 
valued  as  an  element  of  culture. 

Nevertheless,  even  the  "practical"  result  has  its  educational 
significance,  inasmuch  as  a  man  can  be  called  fully  developed 
only  in  proportion  to  his  fitness  for  his  life's  work. 

Yet,  with  educators,  manual  work  is  pre-eminently  a  form 
of  expression,  a  mode  of  "externalizing  the  internal",  as  well 
as  a  method  of  gaining  experience,  of  "internalizing  the  ex- 
ternal". Manual  expression  is  valuable  to  all;  with  many  it 
is  their  only  form  of  successful  self-expression.  A  cathedral  or 
a  Brooklyn  Bridge  are  as  much  expressions  of  noble  thoughts 
and  feelings,  as  is  Milton's  "Paradise  Lost."  Again,  all  of 
us  have  our  concepts  enhanced  in  clearness  and  efficiency  thru 
manual  experiment;  some  are  forever  unable  to  grasp  the 
world  around  them  without  such. 

Manual  training  leads  necessarily  to  construction,  or  rather 
educational  manual  training  must  essentially  be  construction. 
As  construction,  it  is  dependent  upon  observation  and  experi- 
ment, the  two  great  factors  in  the  development  of  the  mind 
towards  self-activity  and  creativeness.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
all  construction  is  experiment.  It  has  recently  been  again 
emphasized  that  many  machines  invented  by  man  have  their 
prototypes  as  to  form  and  functional  structure  in  natural  ob- 
jects and  organisms. 

Said  a  writer  in  the  "American  Machinist":  "All  ideas 
are  new  but  once;  man  cannot  always  be  original,  and  he 
soon  acquires  the  habit  of  absorbing  ideas  relating  to  his 
business.  He  sees  how  beautifully  some  mechanical  device 
accomplishes  its  purpose,  or  how  fitting  is  some  shape  or  form, 
and  unconsciously  stores  these  ideas  away  in  his  mind  and 
draws  from  them  when  needed.  Probably  the  inventor  of  the 
hay-tedder  made  no  extended  study  of  orthoptera,  but  only 
put~la  a  practical  use  the  action  of  the  grasshopper  which  he 
had  seen  all  his  life.  The  hypodermic  syringe  is  a  pointed  ap- 
plication of  the  principle  of  the  sting  of  a  bee,  and  it  is  re- 
ported that  a  successful  tunneling  system  was  designed  from 
the  boring  ^paratus  of  an  apple-worm.    A  suspension  bridge 


104      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

represents  the  highest  mechanical,  mathematical,  and  engineer- 
ink  skill,  and  yet  it  is  only  the  adaptation  of  a  spider's  web 
to  man's  requirements.  Of  all  pumps  the  most  common,  the 
most  reliable,  the  most  efficient  is  the  heart,  and  there  is  a 
significant  parallelism  between  its  form  and  the  designs  for 
some  modem  pumping  machinery.  Whoever  has  'caught  a 
crab'  while  in  bathing  will  remember  the  powerful  grip  of 
its  jaws,  and  the  inventor  of  the  hay-carrier  seized  upon  the 
idea  as  the  crab  seizes  upon  the  toe  of  the  bather. 

"The  pillar  of  an  upright  drill  resembles  a  tree  trunk  in 
size  and  shape.  It  has  limbs  and  branches.  Naturally  then, 
the  base,  where  stability  is  required,  is  modeled  after  the  foot 
of  the  trunk.     .     .     . 

"Sometimes  the  influence  of  natural  forms  appears  in  a 
real  or  fancied  resemblance  to  some  object  which  gives  it  a 
name,  as  an  alligator  wrench  or  a  whaleback  barge.  .  .  . 
The  tailor  has  his  goose  and  the  spinner  his  mule,  and  there 
are  donkey  engines  and  pony  presses.  The  head  of  a  ram  is  so 
manifestly  adapted  for  butting  that  the  ancient  Romans 
carved  it  on  the  ends  of  their  battering  artillery,  and  while 
we  hav6  today  abandoned  the  form  we  still  retain  the  word 
'ramming'. 

"Machines  have  bodies,  feet,  arms;  they  are  provided  with 
wrist-pins,  knuckle-joints,  and  elbows,  and  occasionally  they 
break  a  rib  or  a  leg  like  their  human  relatives.  This  shows 
the  efiEect  of  natural  forms  on  mechanical  designs;  not  that 
they  are  copied  literally.  The  tree-trunk  is  not  reproduced 
widi  the  bark  on,  or  the  elephant's  foot  with  the  toe-nails,* 
but  they  are  adapted  to  man's  purpose,  conventionalized, 
as  they  say  in  art. 

"In  decoration,  nature's  influence  is  even  greater.  'The 
heavens  above,  the  earth  beneath,  and  the  waters  under  the 
earth'  all  lend  their  products  toward  decorative  art." 

The  final  result  in  the  evolution  of  a  machine  is  sometimes 
the  outgrowth  of  a  long  series  of  observations  and  experi- 
ments, and  the  perfect  machine  has  had,  in  the  course  of  its 


♦In   designs   for   chairs,   tables,   etc.,   the   toes   of   the   animal 
whose  foot  furnishes  the  motif,  are  often  carefully  carved.     G. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       105 

evolution  from  crude  beginnings,  many  less  perfect  forerunners 
in  ages  gone  by. 

Thus  it  is  clearly  seen  that  inventicms  are  the  effect  of 
intelligent  study  of  nature,  sometimes  perhaps  of  a  more 
or  less  unconscious  absorption  of  natural  facts,  combined 
with  the  ability  of  imaginative  and  constructive  expression. 
While  certainly  invention  depends  upon  imagination,  the  lat- 
ter draws  its  impulse  from  observation ;  and  science  and  con- 
struction go  hand  in  hand. 

That  human  constructions  are  to  a  high  degree  imitations 
of  nature,  and  as  such  the  results  of  observation  and  experi- 
ment, sometimes  of  many  successive  generations,  has  been 
demonstrated  long  ago.  Huts  and  houses  are  artificial  caves; 
bridges  are  imitations  of  natural  arches,  trunks  of  trees  or 
fallen  rocks;  a  Gothic  colonnade  is  a  palm  forest  of  stone; 
implements  and  weapons  are  for  the  most  part  direct  copies  of 
natural  objects  which  first  served  as  crude  tools  in  the  dawn 
of  civilization.  Here  is  shown  the  relation  of  manual  work 
in  its  constructive  sense  to  other  branches  with  which  it  forms 
a  conceptual  whole. 

Considered  from  another  viewpoint,  manual  training  pos- 
sesses a  value  which  proves  it  an  indispensable  helper  in  gen- 
eral education,  at  the  same  time  demonstrating  its  "practical" 
utility  apart  from  mere  industrial  or  trade  interests  in  a  nar- 
rower sense.  A  physician,  e.  g.,  whose  hands  have  not  ac- 
quired skill,  whose  eyes  and  ears  have  not  been  trained  to  be 
acute  and  quick,  will  be  much  less  fit  for  medical  and  surgical 
practice  than  one  who  has  received  this  training;  and  in 
recording  observations,  the  scientist  will  find  well-trained 
sense-organs,  and  the  ability  of  graphic  expression  as  help- 
ful as  he  will  find  constructive  skill  in  the  arrangement  and 
construction  of  his  experimental  apparatus  and  his  instru- 
ments. Even  the  philosopher  may  be  benefited  by  having  ac- 
quired an  aptitude  for  graphic  representation  of  abstract 
thought.  It  may  be  maintained  that  such  skill  will  be  ac- 
quired at  the  time  of  professional  preparation;  but  not  so. 
At  the  age  when  such  specialized  training  is  received,  the 
senses  and  limbs  have  lost  some  of  their  original  pliability  and 
plasticity.    The  great  diflEerence  in  professional  effectiveness 


io6      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

we  observe  in  the  callings  here  alluded  to,  may  readily  be 
traced  back,  in  a  measure,  to  differences  in  the  early  oppor- 
tunities for  sense  and  motor  training,  apart  from  natural  ^ti- 
tudes. 

Manual  training,  in  the  educational  sense,  does  not  mean 
the  addition  of  a  little  sewing,  or  wood  work,  or  the  like, 
to  an  ordinary  course  of  study.  That  would  produce  an  in- 
congruous patchwork.  There  must  be  a  co-ordinated  sys- 
tem of  studies  and  occupations:  studies  finding  expression 
in  occupations,  and  occupations  forming  a  basis  for  intel- 
lectual work.  Each  branch  may  be  considereded  as  one  of 
many  tests  by  which  the  children's  individual  abilities  can 
be  sounded,  as  has  been  shown  in  previous  chapters.  It 
will  then  be  found,  what  everybody  indeed  knows  in  a 
general  way  without  always  allowing  himself  to  be  guided 
by  this  knowledge,  that  all  children  differ  in  various  de- 
grees, and  that  each  one  may  require  a  different  point  of 
vantage  from  which  to  reach  his  highest  interest.  In- 
struction may  have  to  be  compounded  like  unto  a  medical 
prescription,  in  doses  containing  varying  proportions  of 
ingredients,  so  as  to  fit  individual  cases.  Some  children 
are  distinctively  manual  and  non-literary,  others  literary 
and  non-mathematical,  etc.  A  uniform  standard  is  impos- 
sible. The  traditional  distinction  between  "illiterates"  and 
those  who  are  called  educated,  does  not  cover  all  considera- 
tions. 

On  the  other  hand,  every  child  will  be  benefited  by  be- 
ing led  to  contemplate  the  world  around  him  from  various 
viewpoints,  each  branch,  or  study,  or  occupation,  represent- 
ing in  reality  but  a  special  point  of  view  from  which  the 
entire  world  of  knowledge  and  human  existence  is  ap- 
proached. He  will  thus  acquire  a  stronger  hold  on,  and  a 
clearer  conception  of,  the  world  about  him,  and  learn  to  ap- 
preciate the  viewpoints  of  others  that  differ  from  his  own 
peculiar  attitude.     This  again,  has  an  ethical  significance. 

In  an  organized  system  of  studies,  manual  training  is 
rather  a  method  of  presentation  than  a  separate  discipline. 
Even  special  so-called  manual  occupations  must  be  judged 
with  reference  to  their  educational  value  by  determining 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       107 

their  influence  upon  the  building  up  of  clear  concepts  and 
upon  the  development  of  the  ability  to  control  and  organize 
sense-impressions  and  motor-impulses.  The  "manual  method" 
represents  the  objective,  experimental,  and  creative  (con- 
structive) side  of  all  school  work;  it  ought  to  pervade  all 
branches.  The  making  of  a  thing,  even  by  way  of  crude 
imitation,  intensifies  its  conceptual  identification  and  recog- 
nition. 

Manual  work  strengthens  the  knowledge  of  natural 
forces  and  materials;  it  illustrates  the  evolution  of  civiliza- 
tion by  mediating  a  knowledge  of  typical  tools  and  occupa- 
tions, which  in  turn  is  made  more  vivid  and  effective  by 
the  fact  that  it  is  not  merely  theoretical  knowledge,  but  is 
substantiated  by  practical  tests.  Tools  are  nothing  else  than 
artificial  hands,  or  elongations  of  our  hands,  invented  by 
the  brain  to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  manual  effectiveness;  or, 
as  in  the  case  of  telescope,  microscope,  and  telephone,  arti- 
ficial sense-organs  capable  of  enormously  increasing  the 
power  of  the  receptive  senses.  Man,  thru  the  co-operation 
of  brain  and  hand,  advances  spiritually  towards  the  very 
limits  of  time  and  space,  in  the  microcosmos  as  well  as  in  the 
macrocosmos.* 

Manual  training  mediates  to  the  child  a  far  greater  circle 
of  experience  than  he  would  otherwise  become  conscious  of. 
Care  must  be  taken  that  these  experiences,  while  they  will 
naturally  remain  within  narrow  limits,  be  typical.  A  me- 
chanical laboratory  (using  this  general  term  so  as  to  in- 
clude all  kinds  of  manual  work  proper,  so-called,  such  as 
shopwork,  sewing,  cooking,  etc.),  to  be  an  educational  in- 
stitution, must  in  a  way  be  an  adjunct  to,  and  co-operate 
with,  the  physical  and  chemical  laboratories.  The  work  in 
all  of  these  laboratories  will  virtually  answer  identical  pur- 
poses, i.  e.,  it  will  mediate  knowledge  and  experience,  thru 
the  experimental  method,  gradually  assuming  a  more  and 
more  differentiated,  technical  or  scientific  character,  respec- 
tively, in  proportion  as  the  pupil  advances  in  age  and  ma- 


*Cf.   also  Dr.    Paul   Carus,   "The   Philosophy  of  the   Tool", 
Chicago. 


io8      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

turity  and  gets  ready  for  specialization.  In  the  lower  stages, 
the  work  will  serve  to  satisfy  the  natural  instincts  of  chil- 
dren to  build  and  construct.  Manual  work,  in  this  sense, 
is  also  constructive  play.  The  value  of  the  play  ele- 
ment is  a  topic  by  itself,  and  has  been  referred  to  in  the 
chapter  on  the  kindergarten. 

Manual  training  is  sense  training.  It  exercises  all  senses 
and  constitutes  each  into  a  helper  to  all  others.  It  trains  eye 
and  hand,  and  makes  both  mutually  subservient.  It  recog- 
nizes the  immense  value  of  the  much-neglected  sense  of  touch 
which  is,  in  point  of  fact,  the  fundamental  sense  of  which 
all  other  senses  are  but  modifications  and  ramifications,  or, 
if  you  please,  differentiations,  and  with  which  all  funda- 
mental, racial  sensations  are  intimately  connected.  Above 
all,  it  brings  the  motor  sense  into  play  for  the  gaining  of 
exact  conceptions.  Few  people  realize  how  deeply  the 
motor  element  enters  into  the  formation  of  our  ideas,  and 
how  much  more  accurate  our  concepts  are,  how  much  more 
apt  to  associate  organically  with  one  another,  for  containing 
motor  elements.  At  birth,  all  brain  cells  which  the  individ- 
ual will  ever  possess,  are  already  present,  partly  in  an  un- 
developed state;  a  majority  of  these  are  motor  centers — if 
they  are  not  exercised  and  stimulated  they  will  atrophy.  If 
this  happens,  of  course,  no  association  fibres  can  issue  from 
them  to  connect  with  other  centers.  Even  tho  they  be  de- 
veloped partly,  the  association  tracts  will  be  less  easily  pass- 
able than  if  the  cells  had  received  their  proper  share  of  ex- 
ercise. Associations,  however,  form  the  basis  of  apperception 
and  judgment;  the  more  there  are  of  smooth  association 
tracts  and  of  connected,  i.  e.,  organized,  functioning  cen- 
ters, fit  to  receive  and  connect  impressions,  the  higher  de- 
veloped the  brain  will  be,  the  more  perfect  our  concepts, 
the  more  circumspect  our  judgments. 

Thought  is  connected  with  motion.  Language  is,  indeed, 
a  vehicle  of  thought:  it  expresses  and  conveys  thought  not 
only,  but  clarifies,  crystallizes  thought,  makes  thought  more 
definite,  more  distinct,  more  exact.  Max  Miiller  went  so 
far  as  to  maintain  a  parellelism,  or  even  identity,  of  langu- 
age and  thought.    But  the  first  language,  as  a  means  of  com- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       109 

munication,  had  nothing  to  do  with  "lingua",  the  tongue; 
it  was  gesture  language.  Gesture  language  is  as  universal 
as  it  is  practically  the  same,  that  is  to  say,  using  the  same 
symbols,  with  a  few  curious  exceptions,  all  over  the  globe. 
Even  now,  when  we  use  "lingua-language",  gestures  will 
accompany  and  intensify  speech,  and  sometimes  be  substi- 
stuted  for  speech.  Every  thought,  however,  is  connected 
with  some  form  of  motor  concomitant.  Motor  training  may 
create,  and  will  certainly  stimulate  thought,  and  make 
thought  more  concrete  and  true. 

Manual  training,  further,  being  a  recognition  of  the  play 
instinct,  is  also  exercise.  It  sets  free  those  natural  and  valu- 
able impulses  which  induce  the  child  to  try  his  strength 
and  skill  in  a  large  number  of  various  activities.  It  helps 
towards  a  completer  self-projection  of  the  child  upon  his 
environment,  towards  his  more  perfect  self-realization.  At 
the  same  time,  it  turns  into  useful  channels  those  activities 
and  tendencies  which  may,  when  left  unemployed,  atrophy 
and  cripple  the  child's  soul ;  or,  when  left  unguided,  may  lead 
to  destruction  and  crime.  It  converts  them  into  constructive 
force. 

The  remedial  function  of  manual  training  has  often  been 
demonstrated  in  reform  institutions  for  criminally  disposed 
children,  and  in  the  treatment  of  deficient  and  degenerated 
persons  generally.  The  reason  is  obvious  from  the  forego- 
ing argument. 

When  it  is  remembered  that,  in  manual  training,  the  play 
instinct  of  children  receives  a  recognition,  we  shall  under- 
stand that  it  must  partake  of  the  character  and  function  of 
play;  in  other  words,  it  must  not  be  too  formal  and  should, 
at  least  as  far  as  younger  children  are  concerned,  never  be 
introduced  as  a  tedious,  pedantic  task.  There  must  be  an 
element  of  freedom  and  variety,  an  appeal  to  children's  spon- 
taneous interests.  By  watching  children's  play,  with  build- 
ing blocks,  sand,  "mud",  constructive  toys  of  all  kinds,  we 
can  learn  many  valuable  lessons,  as  to  what  manual  training 
should  do  for  them.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  traditional 
"sloyd"  does  not  possess  the  virtue  ascribed  to  it  by  many. 
Sloyd,  in  the  first  place,  restricts  the  child  as  to  the  material 


no      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

and  tools  used,  and  then  it  insists  on  too  pedantic  a  course 
of  models,  requiring  a  high  degree  of  patient  toil,  of  accur- 
acy, and  of  finish. 

As  regards  patience,  young  persons  have,  and  can  have, 
but  little  of  it,  and  when  it  is  demanded  beyond  the  limit  of 
their  capacity,  or  of  their  interest  in  the  work  in  hand,  their 
pleasure  will  be  lost  and  they  will  hate  the  task  as  well  as 
the  task  master.  Some  may  regret  this  fact — it  is  an 
indisputable  fact,  nevertheless,  that  children  will  never  do 
anything  "with  a  will"  that  does  not  appeal  to  their  inter- 
est in  some  way.  The  abstract  ideas  of  duty  and  training 
have  little  charm  for  them,  and  it  is  the  teacher's  function 
to  arouse  the  child's  natural  interests,  or  to  create  new  mo- 
tives of  action.  But  at  his  best,  the  child  cannot  work  long 
over  the  same  thing — he  cannot  sustain  his  attention. 

And  then  his  standard  of  accuracy  and  finish  is  not  the 
same  as  that  of  the  adult.  It  is  futile  as  well  as  unjust  and 
cruel  to  force  the  adult  standard  upon  him.  There  is  no 
need  of  demanding  that  every  piece  he  begins  must  be  fin- 
ished to  be  exactly  like  the  model  set  before  him.  It  is 
more  essential  that  he  should  learn  to  begin  right,  and  this 
can  be  better  accomplished  by  his  trying  his  hands  on  a  large 
number  of  experiments  than  by  restriction  to  a  few  pieces  in 
a  so-called  series.  "Logical  sequences"  of  exercises  have  lit- 
tle value  in  teaching  the  young  whose  development  is  irreg- 
ular and  unsymmetrical  in  outward  appearance.  Let  us 
have  the  young  student  try  new  pieces  as  many  as  possible. 
Let  us  adjust  the  "course"  so  that  approximate  results  are 
acceptable.  After  the  child  has  learned  to  make  a  good 
start,  his  constructive  instincts  will  lead  him  on  to  finish 
each  piece  to  his  own  satisfaction  especially  when  he  sees 
some  purpose  in  it,  and  were  it  but  a  make-believe  purpose, 
a  play  interest. 

The  development  of  real  accuracy  is  very  gradual  and  cor- 
responds to  the  child's  degree  of  experience,  and  of  his  power 
to  co-ordinate  muscular  and  nervous  activity.  This  is  a  mat- 
ter of  nervous  development,  and  has  been  referred  to  in  a 
previous  chapter.  It  is  sufficient  if  the  product  of  the  chil- 
dren's eflForts  represents  the  swing  and  character  of  the  object 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       1 1 1 

which  serves  as  a  model  or  prototype.  Exactness  will  be  re- 
quired also,  parallel  with  a  growing  appreciation  of  the  neces- 
sity of  fitting  parts  together ;  this  illustrates  the  value  of  con- 
structive exercises,  properly  so  called,  as  compared  with  non- 
constructive  work.  It  may  sometimes  prove  helpful  to  have 
certain  pieces  produced  by  co-operation,  several  pupils  com- 
bining in  their  construction.  This  will  bring  home  to  each 
the  necessity  of  exact  fitting  more  strongly  even  than  when 
one  works  alone. 

Truly  there  are  children  who  exhibit  abnormal  symptoms 
and  who  need  special  consideration.  Aimless  scatterbrains 
that  flit  from  one  thing  to  another  can  only  be  cured  by  find- 
ing some  point  of  vantage  thru  which  to  reach  their  supreme 
interest.  But  those  who  cannot  be  reached  at  all  are  fewer 
in  number  than  those  who  are  at  an  early  stage  discouraged 
because  too  much  is  expected  of  them.  It  must  also  be  re- 
membered that  talents  differ,  and  all  will  not  be  able  to  do 
technically  accurate  manual  work  even  after  practice,  just  as 
there  will  always  be  some  to  whom  spelling  and  composition 
will  remain  unfathomable  mysteries  all  their  life.  It  is  the 
variety  of  tests  of  which  mention  has  been  made  before  that 
will  enable  us  to  do  justice  to  all. 

If  reference  be  made  to  abnormal  children  to  whom  ordin- 
ary measures  will  not  appeal,  it  may  be  stated  that  they  need 
the  curative  treatment  which  can  only  be  devised  by  the  co- 
operation of  the  educator  and  physician,  notably  the  alienist. 

For  reasons  similar  to  those  enumerated  in  regard  to  ac- 
curacy, variety  of  material  (cardboard,  wood,  wire,  tin,  clay, 
canvas,  etc.),  as  well  as  of  tools  will  add  to  the  attractive- 
ness of  the  work.  Besides,  there  will  be  possible  in  this  way 
a  many-sided  experience  as  to  natural  forces  and  man's  con- 
quest of  the  same  which  could  not  be  obtained  if  we  were  to 
restrict  the  exercises  to  a  one-sided  series. 

In  progressing  from  elementary  to  higher  stages  of  work, 
it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  what  has  been  said  in  the  previous 
chapter  on  the  gradual  evolution  from  "symbolism"  to  "real- 
ism". 

Manual  training,  as  an  element  of  culture,  includes  art 
culture.    Or  rather  art  is  the  redeeming  feature  of  all  con- 


1 12      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

structive  work;  it  lifts  it  from  the  lower  level  of  mere  me- 
chanical drudgery  to  the  higher  plane  of  creative  activity;  it 
represents  the  finishing  touch,  the  liberating  element. 

The  art  idea  of  construction  has  perhaps  never  been  so 
fundamentally  expressed  in  words  as  by  Walter  J.  Kenyon 
in  an  introductory  article  to  the  first  number  of  the  "Manual 
Training  Magazine"  years  ago.    He  said : 

'There  is  probably  more  of  esthetic  possibility  in  un- 
adorned construction  than  we  are  wont  to  recognize.  All 
spontaneous  expression,  be  it  under  skilled  guidance,  will  ulti- 
mately make  for  beauty.  .  .  .  Wherever  a  creation  is 
the  expression  of  an  eager  soul,  undriven  save  by  native  im- 
pulse, it  makes  towards  art,  whether  it  is  decorative  or  not, 
and  whether  it  be  slightly  to  the  unenlightened  or  not.  Art  is 
saying  to  your  brother  what  God  says  to  you.  The  vehicle 
of  expression  does  not  signify.  .  .  .  function  is  the 
BASIS  OF  ALL  ART.  .  .  .  Art  Cannot  transcend  mathe- 
matics, whether  it  outreaches  mathematical  research  or 
not.  Whether  it  be  a  question  of  music,  or  color,  or 
form,  it  is  a  question  of  interval.  Interval,  in  turn,  deter- 
mines proportion.    And  proportion  subserves  function." 

The  art  idea  should  enter  into  all  work,  and  direct  it  to- 
wards the  ideal  of  beauty  and  fitness.  What  is  most  perfect 
as  to  fitness  is  also  most  beautiful  in  its  way.  A  table,  for 
instance,  constructed  on  the  most  simple  lines  of  fitness  for 
its  purpose,  is  also  the  most  beautiful  piece  of  furniture  of 
its  kind.  It  is  this  thought  which  has  now  revived  a  taste 
for  the  so-called  Old  English  and  Mission  styles  in  furni- 
ture. 

Yet,  art  has  its  individual  claim  as  the  highest  form  of 
self-expression;  it  strives  for  typical,  eternal  creations.  It 
projects  human  nature  upon  the  background  of  infinity  and 
eternity,  and  relates  the  finite  human  life  with  universal 
existence. 

Art  expression,  however,  is  plainly  dependent  upon  proper 
sense-training  and  manual  culture  as  premises,  or  prerequi- 
sites. 

These  suggestions  have  a  bearing  not  only  upon  ele- 
mentary education,  but  on  secondary  school  work  as  well, 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       113 

altho  here  there  is  a  greater  need  of  differentiation.  The 
elective  system,  as  characteristic  of  adolescent  education,  has 
this  significance  that  the  individual  differences  of  the  pupils 
now  receive  more  distinct  recognition,  and  that  each  one  is 
allowed  to  construe  his  world  conception  from  the  stand- 
point of  more  specialized  aptitudes.  Thus,  a  manual  training 
high  school  may  have  a  true  function;  but  the  general  high 
school  should  certainly  not  be  devoid  of  manual  training  fea- 
tures in  an  educational  sense.  More  will  be  said  in  the  last 
chapter  of  this  book.  It  needs  to  be  emphasized,  however, 
that  it  is  better  to  work  a  system  of  manual  training  from 
the  elementary  stage  up  to  the  secondary  stage,  than  to  work 
down  from  the  high  school  with  its  specialized  aims  to  the  dis- 
trict schools,  as  has  too  often  been  done.  The  reasons  for  this 
contention  are  obvious. 


CHAPTER  VII 

Kinds  of  Manual  Experience  and  Expression 

THE  following  series  of  suggestions  is  informally 
presented  and  naturally  fragmentary.  It  is 
largely  based  upon  practical  work  which  has  been 
actually  done,  under  the  author's  supervision  and 
elsewhere;  but  a  careful  selection  has  been  at- 
tempted, in  accordance  with  the  principles  pronounced  in  the 
previous  chapters.  Some  of  the  suggestions  have  not  yet  been 
thoroly  tried  in  school  practice,  but  grew  out  of  the  general 
view  of  the  subject  as  it  appears  in  the  light  of  the  argument 
upon  which  this  volume  is  based. 

The  work  may  be  considered  under  four  heads: 

(i)   Materials  employed; 

(2)  Typical  occupations  and  tools; 

(3)  Illustrative  work,  that  is  such  as  will  be  intimately  and 

methodicaly  connected  with  other  branches ; 

(4)  Assembled  work. 

This  arrangement  does  not  imply  a  succession  of  exercises 
in  this  order;  for  the  work  will  have  to  be  arranged  in  peda- 
gogical order.  The  schedule  will  serve  merely  as  a  help  in 
surveying  the  work. 

The  four  groups  suggested  here  are  closely  interrelated  in- 
asmuch as  the  first  and  second  are  in  the  nature  of  experiences 
which  often  will  illustrate  facts  from  other  branches,  such  as 
science  and  history ;  and  illustrative  work  will  often  have  the 
character  of  assembled  work. 

The  use  of  a  variety  of  materials  will  illustrate  different 

114 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       115 

natural  forces,  their  reactimi  upon  human  effort,  and  the 
means  of  utilizing  them.  Thus,  their  employment  will  be  in 
the  nature  of  physical  experiments,  and  be  subservient  to  the 
formation  of  scientific  concepts.  Again,  the  typical  occupa- 
tions and  tools  will  elucidate  the  history  of  civilization,  and  in 
this  wise  connect  closely  with  history  and  geography,  and  in  a 
measure  even  with  literature. 

How  manual  work  is  a  valuable  form  of  expression  has 
been  set  forth  before.  Complete  expression  requires  the  em- 
ployment of  various  forms  simultaneously,  or  rather  in  close 
succession.  The  same  idea  may  be  expressed  in  different 
modes,  clay,  wood,  drawing,  etc.  Form  and  size  can  be  best 
expressed  by  modeling  and  construction;  light  and  color  by 
drawing  and  painting.  There  are  other  qualities  that  cannot 
be  expressed  in  such  form  but  for  which  music  or  poetry 
are  needed:  thus,  the  children  will  receive  a  training  in  the 
meaning  of  adequate  expression  as  a  function  and  an  art. 

It  may  be  well  to  speak  in  passing  of  the  enormous  value 
of  drawing  which  enters  largely  into  all  kinds  of  manual  ex- 
pression and  productive  activity.  It  is  a  necessary  adjunct  to 
the  study  of  natural  objects;  without  it  construction  would 
be  hazardous;  it  will  enhance  the  work  in  composition,  litera- 
ture, history,  and  geography.  Mechanical  drawing  as  such 
deserves  careful  attention,  to  be  preceded  in  the  lower  grades, 
where  only  a  small  degree  of  accuracy  can  be  expected,  by  a 
crude  kind  of  mechanical  sketching.  Boys  and  girls  alike 
should  learn  to  read  a  working  drawing,  and  to  produce  one, 
if  it  were  only  to  become  conscious  of  the  principles  of  con- 
struction and  design.  Then,  of  course,  the  conception  of  geo- 
metric form,  and  of  mathematical  relations  and  laws,  must 
be  completed  by  the  application  of  drawing,  even  tho  the 
fundamental  cognitions  in  this  province  of  knowledge  will 
have  to  be  based  upon  the  direct  handling  and  making  of 
bodies. 

Design,  again,  while  based  upon  mathematical  relations, 
is  principally  concerned  in  harmony  of  arrangement,  pro- 
portion of  parts,  and  fitness  for  its  purpose,  and  depends 
upon  invention  and  the  awakening  of  the  sense  of  beauty. 
Taking  its  origin   in   mechanical   construction,   it  assumes 


1 1 6      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

the  function  of  beautifying  decoration.  From  it,  indeed, 
all  truly  artistic  forms  have  derived  their  being,  for  altho 
art  is  intrinsically  a  form  of  expressing  a  thought  or  feel- 
ing, its  object  is  primarily  to  add  beauty  to  a  thing  which 
is  otherwise  utilitarian.  Thus,  designs  were  carved  on  knife 
or  sword  handles;  the  monotony  of  walls  and  floors  and 
ceilings  was  broken  by  decorative  effects,  and  carvings  and 
statuary  helped  to  beautify  the  outside  and  inside  of  build- 
ings. Or,  we  may  assume  a  twofold  origin  of  art:  first  the 
desire  to  express,  which  led  to  picture-writing  and  kindred 
lines  of  work  (even  modern  paintings  of  the  highest  type 
may  be  construed  as  perfect  hieroglyphics,  intended  to  ex- 
press and  communicate  a  thought)  ;  and  then  the  desire  to 
beautify,  which  led  to  decoration.  But  the  two  lines  of 
artistic  activity  are  closely  allied  with  one  another,  since 
even  in  the  early  times  picture-writing,  or  hieroglyphics, 
were  used  with  decorative  effect,  and  decoration  at  its  best 
is  always  used  to  express  a  definite  meaning  and  will  be 
appropriate  to  a  specific  purpose. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  all  decorative  design  is  based  on  draw- 
ing. 

Design,  as  well  as  drawing  without  design,  includes 
color.  Pencil  drawing  is  essentially  concerned  in  outline. 
As  soon  as  we  use  color,  we  deal  with  masses.  Inserting 
color  into  outlines  is  not  a  very  commendable  practice  altho 
it  is  quite  common.  Colored  pencils,  as  they  are  a  tempta- 
tion to  outline,  have  therefore  their  drawbacks. 

The  use  of  washes  may  be  advocated  as  early  as  the  kin- 
dergarten. We  may  begin  with  ordinary  ink  washes,  then 
using  prepared  water  colors.  Design  can  also  be  expressed 
by  the  use  of  colored  papers,  in  folding,  cutting,  and  pasting, 
even  using  blue  prints  to  effect.  But  while  some  simple 
exercises  of  this  kind  may  be  done  in  the  youngest  classes, 
this  work  will  reach  its  true  function  in  the  higher. 

Design  includes  carving.  As  design,  it  is  art  work ;  in  its 
execution,  it  is  tool  work  in  the  sense  of  technique.  Carv- 
ing, therefore,  partakes  of  the  character  of  both  lines  of 
expressive  activity,  and  represents  a  blending  of  manual  and 
art  work.     And  as  it  eventually  leads  to  the  construction 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       117 

of  beautiful  articles  of  use,  such  as  carved  boxes,  benches, 
chairs,  etc.,  it  will  serve  to  connect  the  two  departments,  if 
departments  they   be,   quite  closely. 

As  to  the  material  for  carving,  the  following  sequence 
may  be  suggested :  soap,  clay,  plaster,  soft  wood,  hard  wood. 
Attention  may  be  called  to  the  valuable  training  and  pretty 
effects  afforded  by  the  German  "Kerbschnitt"  (notch-cut) 
exercises.  There  are  also  valuable  exercises  in  beaten  brass  and 
similar  design  work. 

Another  occupation  of  which  more  will  be  said  later,  is 
also  in  the  nature  of  design  and  will  require  artistic  thought 
and  invention,  viz.,  weaving. 

A  large  share  of  the  art  work  will  be  modeling  in  clay. 
Without  entering  here  into  the  details  of  this  work,  it  may 
be  remarked  that  it  is  fundamental  in  gaining  artistic  power 
and  conceptions  of  form,  besides  being  admirably  fitted  to 
the  use  even  of  the  youngest  children.  It  also  leads  over  to 
other  occupations  of  a  more  "manual"  and  constructive  type. 
It  appeals  most  fully  to  the  primary  sense  of  touch. 

One  of  the  first  things  to  be  mentioned  is  the  sand-table 
which  ought  to  be  found  in  every  kindergarten,  primary, 
and  intermediate  room.  Apart  from  the  free  representative 
play  of  which  it  will  allow,  it  will  serve,  as  nothing  else 
will,  to  illustrate  all  essential  geographical  and  physiogra- 
phic facts  on  a  small  scale.  Besides,  it  will  form  the  basis 
for  illustrative  and  assembled  work  in  the  study  of  different 
countries,  and  in  history,  such  as  will  be  referred  to  later  in 
this  chapter.  The  sand-table  in  the  room  will  be  fitly  sup- 
plemented by  the  sand-heap  outdoors,  in  the  open  air  play- 
ground which  ought  to  be  more  organically  connected  with 
all  the  work  of  the  school  than  has  heretofore  been  at- 
tempted. 

For  manual  training  proper,  the  use  of  a  great  variety  of 
materials,  representing  a  large  circle  of  experiences  and 
occupations,  is  advocated.  Among  the  material  which  is 
desirable  may  be  mentioned:  sand,  clay,  paper,  cardboard, 
wood,  tin,  wire  (lead,  copper  and  iron),  iron,  and  the  ma- 
terials needed  for  domestic  work  of  various  kinds. 

Again,  speaking  of  the  occupations  to  be  represented,  and 


1 18      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

X.  their  successive  introduction,  we  may  take  our  clue  from  the 
historic  order  in  which  they  were  evolved,  as  this  delineates 
the  successive  stages  in  intellectual  grasp,  and  nerve  and 
muscle  control,  exhibited  by  the  human  race  in  its  gradual 
development  of  civilization — a  development  which  is  paral- 
leled in  the  child's  individual  evolution.  This  does  not 
mean,  as  has  been  shown  before,  that  we  must  disregard 
the  child's  present  and  immediate  environment  and  inter- 
ests, in  other  words,  his  apperceptive  basis,  and  force  him 
to  be  a  primitive  man  and  do  primitive  things — but  rather 
to  follow  his  natural  line  of  growth  and  allow  him  to  do 
modern  things  in  a  primitive  manner.  For  example,  the 
child  may  be  led  to  build  and  construct  in  simple  fashion, 
but  not  necessarily  Eskimo  huts  or  an  Egyptian  chair,  but 
modern  dwellings  in  a  simple  and  perhaps  symbolical  style, 
and  doll  house  furniture.  Or  he  may  weave  and  sew,  not 
necessarily  an  Indian  blanket  or  wigwam,  but  a  carpet  for 
his  doll,  or  a  tent  for  an  outing  camp.  Let  us  not  forget 
that  even  apart  from  the  apperceptive  basis  upon  which  we 
must  build,  the  modern  child  is  after  all  a  child,  and  the 
savage  adult  was  an  adult,  which  means  quite  a  difference 
in   strength,   co-ordination,   and   purposeful  activity. 

In  the  development  of  the  child's  movements,  we  must 
consider  several  distinct  periods.  Up  to  seven,  the  reflex 
movements  (spinal  cord  movements)  prevail.  The  whole 
body,  and  the  whole  limb,  are  in  motion.  The  hand  is  not 
yet  really  a  human  hand — the  thumb  is  more  like  an  or- 
dinary finger  in  the  beginning.  We  may  again  be  reminded 
of  the  powerful  grasp  of  the  baby  who  can  support  his  own 
weight  for  a  surprising  length  of  time,  and  this  grasp  has 
been  likened  to  the  monkey  grasp.  The  movements  preva- 
lent at  this  period  are  such  as  kicking,  dropping,  digging, 
piling — blocks  and  sand,  for  instance;  again,  swinging, 
running,  throwing.  Cutting  and  folding  are  still  beset  with 
difficulties.  Whatever  requires  nice  adjustment,  with  the 
help  of  the  sense  of  vision,  is  beyond  the  baby's  power;  the 
sense  of  touch  is  far  ahead  of  that  of  sight.  Children  are 
far-sighted  to  the  age  of  eight. 

This  being  the  symbolic,  or  play,  age,  a  symbolic  scale 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       1 19 

and  symbolic  use  will  characterize  all  work. 

At  six,  simple  tools  can  be  introduced.  The  hand  is  at 
last  perfectly  straight;  yet  the  movements  are  still  whole 
arm  and  shoulder  movements.  The  fingers  and  hands  are 
but  partially  free  from  the  lower  simultaneous  impulse. 
The  rapidity  even  of  hand  and  arm  movement  is  only  60 
per  cent,  of  what  it  is  at  sixteen.  Writing  and  drawing  at 
this  age  imply  an  intense  strain,  and  such  work,  as  far  as 
it  may  seem  unavoidable,  should  be  confined  to  blackboard 
exercises. 

At  seven,  sense  impressions  predominate  in  the  movements, 
and  the  mere  reflexes  are  under  control.  We  should  now 
attend  particularly  to  the  training  of  the  sensory  responses. 
Partly  for  this  purpose,  partly  because  of  the  greater  degree 
of  muscular  co-ordination  possible  at  this  stage,  we  may  begin 
to  introduce  tools  of  greater  complexity,  again  following 
somewhat  the  order  in  which  the  tools  were  differentiated  in 
history  from  the  first  primitive  implements.  The  club  was, 
perhaps,  the  primordial  form  of  all  human  tools — the  branch 
of  a  tree,  or  simply  a  stone.  Of  all  manufactured  tools,  the 
hammer  comes  first,  and  it  was  from  the  hammer  that  all 
other  tools  were  developed.  A  hammer  with  a  sharp  edge 
became  a  knife;  a  pointed  knife  gave  origin  to  the  needle. 
Likewise  in  children's  work,  let  us  begin  with  crude  tools 
and  crude  work,  and  work  up  to  differentiated  tools  and  di- 
versified tasks. 

At  the  age  of  eight  sensory  education  can  be  diversified 
and  emphasized  thru  the  introduction  of  simple  selected  exer- 
cises from  many  different  occupations;  the  motor  education 
cannot  yet  employ  special  groups  of  muscles  and  nerves,  but 
must  still  be  more  general  and  elementary.  One  of  the  dan- 
gers of  this  period  is  from  overstrain;  this  is,  as  will  be  re- 
membered, the  fatigue  period. 

In  the  next  year,  there  is  great  gain  in  precision,  but  ma- 
ture accuracy  in  hand  and  finger  control  is  not  reached  before 
nine  or  ten.  Application  of  this  fact  can  easily  be  made  upon 
the  traditional  methods  of  teaching  writing,  drawing,  and 
sewing  to  young  children. 

At  eleven,  the  free  use  of  the  wrist  movement  is  gained, 


120      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

and  from  now  on  exercises  dependent  upon  this  may  be  intro- 
duced. Games  of  skill  are  valuable  at  this  time;  and  gener- 
ally there  must  be  training  with  respect  to  muscular  quick- 
ness. As  this  is  the  pre-pubertal  period,  the  "wild  time",  full 
occupation  is  necessary  so  as  to  lead  the  surplus  activity  into 
constructive  channels. 

The  age  of  twelve  marks  the  final  and  consummate  transi- 
tion from  make-believe  to  definite  ends.    The  child  now  de- 
sires to  make  useful,  real  things.    This  is  the  shop  work  pe- 
riod, when  sewing  proper  also  has  its  place. 
«     «     « 

The  primitive  occupations  are  building,  tool  making,  pot- 
tery, sewing  and  weaving,  planting,  cooking. 

The  child  delights  in  building.  Building  blocks,  first  pure- 
ly symbolical,  in  other  words,  capable  of  representing  every- 
thing in  free  play,  and  then  such  as  can  be  used  for  archi- 
tectural constructions,  form  one  of  the  most  widely  accepted 
and  welcome  playthings  for  children.  The  blocks  of  the 
Fourth  Gift  and  their  divisions  and  multiples  can  be  employed 
for  a  variety  of  instructive  exercises  in  building  and  construc- 
tion. The  diildren  may  make  doll  houses  and  furnish  them  by 
crude  carpenter  work.  It  is  well  to  remember,  however,  that 
the  scale  should  not  be  miniature,  but  sufficiently  large  to 
allow  of  whole  arm  movements  in  the  making.  The  tools 
to  be  used  now  would  be  hammer,  knife,  awl,  drill.  A  primi- 
tive drill  with  bowstring  may  be  easily  constructed  by  the 
children.  Practice  in  whittling  would  fitly  follow  the  first 
cruder  exercises. 

The  knife  develops  into  the  saw,  and  there  is  a  possibil- 
ity to  introduce  some  coarse  sawing  even  in  the  lowest  grades. 
The  scroll  saw  may  become  a  valuable  adjunct  at  this  stage, 
and  its  use  may  be  perfected  thru  the  grades. 

A  more  complicated  course  in  wood  construction,  combin- 
ing the  use  of  all  foregoing  tools  and  materials,  may  be  taken 
up  in  the  older  grades  of  the  school,  care  being  taken  that 
there  be  no  excessive  indulgence  in  the  formalities  and  techni- 
calities of  the  trade,  and  that  ample  opportunity  is  afforded 
for  free  spontaneous  invention. 

All  this  time,  some  primitive  tools  may  be  constructed  of 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       121 

wood,  wire,  and  like  material. 

Wood,  indeed,  is  only  one  of  the  material  bodies  with 
which  the  experimenting  child  should  occupy  himself.  Wire 
lends  itself  very  readily  to  the  making  of  many  interesting 
forms,  and  is  particularly  helpful  in  the  develt^ment  of  the 
sense  of  touch  and  of  muscular  adjustment.  In  the  lower 
grades,  many  forms  of  symbolic  size  (hooks,  chains,  etc.) 
may  be  bent  in  pliable  lead  wire,  using  the  fingers  and  a  little 
mandrel  of  wood  for  forming.  In  the  next  step  copperwire 
of  increasing  thickness  may  be  substituted,  and  with  the  help 
of  hammer  and  vise  more  realistic  articles  can  be  fashioned. 
Later  the  child  may  fashion  a  needle  of  copper  wire ;  and  fol- 
lowing this,  a  steel  needle  may  be  introduced  for  the  use  in 
sewing.  The  wire  work  may  lead  up  to  forging  (first  cold, 
using  lead ;  then  hot,  using  iron  and  forge)  when  actual  im- 
plements may  be  made  (chisel,  chain,  pokers,  etc.),  and  to 
other  kinds  of  metal  working.  In  the  "grammar"  grades  and 
the  high  school,  a  course  in  actual  tool  making  would  eventu- 
ally complete  this  course. 

Pottery  is  the  industrial  side  of  modeling.  The  children 
will  delight  in  shaping  vessels  of  all  kinds,  Indian  like,  first 
with  the  fingers  alone,  and  finger  marks  for  decoration.  Then 
in  the  next  grades  a  simple  potter's  wheel  (the  first  machine 
invented  by  man)  can  be  used  for  more  exact  work,  and  dec- 
orations may  be  in  design  and  color.  The  making  of  a  pot- 
ter's wheel  of  simple  construction,  by  the  way,  would  be  a 
suitable  exercise  in  the  shop  work  of  higher  grades. 

Sewing  and  weaving  can  be  summed  up  under  the  general 
head  of  the  making  of  household  articles,  and  will  form  one 
group  with  basket  making,  bead  work,  netting,  plaiting,  string 
work,  etc.  All  these  are  primitive  occupations,  largely  in- 
vented and  practiced  by  primitive  woman,  and  will  fitly  illus- 
trate the  civilizing  arts,  besides  being  admirably  adapted  to 
the  possibilities  of  children.  But  again  it  must  be  understood 
that  this  primitive  work  need  not  be  altogether  an  imitation 
of  savage  work;  it  may  largely  be  adapted  to  the  modern 
environment  and  the  modern  interests  and  needs  of  the  child, 
in  addition  to  its  illustrative  features. 

With  children  the  coarser  work  should  precede  the  finer. 


122      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

Weaving,  with  reeds,  raffia,  chamois  strips,  ribb(Mi,  doth, 
worsted,  shoestrings,  should  be  the  forerunner  of  sewing,  and 
a  primitive  loom,  on  a  fairly  large  scale,  may  be  employed  for 
the  manufacture  of  simple  fabrics.  As  a  continuation  of  weav- 
ing, darning  and  knitting  will  introduce  sewing  proper. 

Sewing,  requiring  rather  fine  muscular  adjustments  in  eye 
and  hand,  should  first  be  quite  coarse  and  crude.  Accurate 
stitching  on  a  small  scale,  which  is  usually  offered  as  the  first 
"logical"  exercise  in  sewing,  the  making  of  "samplers"  and  the 
like,  should  be  avoided ;  it  is  not  only  injurious  but  an  actual 
waste  of  time.  Begin,  perhaps,  with  a  big  bone  needle  (made 
from  a  crochet  needle),  coarse  canvas  and  burlap,  and  large 
threads.  Cord  and  worsted  threads  will  answer  the  purpose. 
And  have  the  child  make  things,  in  rapid  work,  even  with 
colored  threads — bags,  doilies,  dresses  for  a  large  doll,  in  sav- 
age or  crude  fashion,  with  as  few  stitches  as  necessary.  It  is 
immaterial  at  this  stage  whether  the  child  knows  the  names 
and  functions  of  different  stitches.  There  are  many  sug- 
gestive courses  published  in  raffiia  and  cord  work,  basketry, 
netting,  etc.  The  intelligent  teacher  will  have  a  wealth  of 
applications  of  the  general  principle  to  choose  from. 

In  parenthesis  it  may  be  said  that  even  work  of  this  nature, 
altho  it  appears  pronouncedly  industrial  and  "practical",  par- 
takes in  a  singular  way  of  the  nature  of  expressive  work. 
Those  who  can  read  the  meaning  of  the  patterns  and  meth- 
ods of  Indian  basketry  for  instance,  will  be  surprised  to  find 
that  there  is  a  significance  in  every  variation  of  form.  On 
baskets  and  blankets,  totemic  figures  were  worked  in  a  mul- 
titude of  ways.  Picture-writing  as  ordinarily  understood  was 
"preceeded  by  the  use  of  material  objects  which  afterwards 
were  reproduced  graphically  in  paintings,  cuttings  and  carv- 
ings."* 

Among  these  may  be  here  mentioned:  knotted  cords  and 
objects  tied,  notched  or  marked  sticks,  and  wampum,  the 


*This  passage  and  a  few  following,  are  quoted  from  Gar- 
rick  Mallery's  study  of  "Picture  Writing  of  the  American 
Indians",  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  1888-89. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       123 

latter  representing  bead  work.     "A  peculiar  and  ingenious 
mode  of  expressing  thoughts  without  pronouncing  or  writ- 
ing them  in  language  is  still  met  with  among  the  Indian 
shepherds  in   the   Peruvian   Cordilleras,  tho  it  is  practised 
merely  in  the  accounts  of  the  flocks.     This  system  consists 
of  a  peculiar  intertwining  of  various  strings  into  a  net-like 
braidwork,  and  the  divers  modes  of  tying  these  strings  form 
the  record,  the  knots  and  loops  signifying  definite  ideas  and 
their  combination  the  connection  of  these  ideas.     This  sys- 
tem of  mnemonic  device,  which  was  practised  by  the  an- 
cient Peruvians,  was  called  quipu,  and,  tho  a  similar  knot- 
writing  is  found  in  China,  Tartary,  eastern  Asia,  on  many 
islands  of  the  Pacific,  and  even  in  some  parts  of  Africa,  yet 
in  Peru,  at  the  time  of  the  Incas,  it  was  so  elaborately  de- 
veloped as  to  permit  its  employment  for  official  statistics  of 
the  government.     Of  course,  as  this  writing  gave  no  picture 
of  a  word  and  did  not  suggest  sounds,  but,  like  the  notched 
sticks,   merely   recalled   ideas   already  existing,   the  writing 
could  be  understood  by  those  only  who  possessed  the  key 
to  it;  but  it  is  noteworthy  that  when  the  Jesuit  missions 
began  their  work  in  Peru  they  were  able  to  use  the  quipus 
for  the  purpose  of  making  the  Indians  learn  Latin  prayers 
by   heart."     The  descendants  of  the  Quiches  still   use   a 
modified  quipu,  or  rather  a  sort  of  bead  work,  for  numera- 
tion.    "They  pierce  beans  and  hang  them  by  different  col- 
ored strings,  each  of  which  represents  one  of  the  column 
places  used  in  decimal  arithmetic.     A  green  string  signifies 
1000;   a  red  one,  lOO;   a  yellow,  lo;  and  a  white  refers  to 
the  9  smaller  digits.    Thus  if  7  beans  are  on  a  green,  2  on 
a  red,  8  on  a  yellow,  and  6  on  a  white  string,  and  the  whole 
tied    together,    the    bundle    expresses    the    number    7,286." 
Prof.   Terrien   de   Lacouperie    reports:    "The   Yang   tung, 
south  of  Khoten,  and  consequently  north  of  Tibet,  who  first 
communicated  with  China  in  A.  D.  641,  had  no  written 
characters.     They  only  cut  notches  in  sticks  and  tied  knots 
in  strings  for  records." 

In  his  fantastic  story,  "The  Man  Who  Would  be  King", 
Rudyard  Kipling  has  one  of  his  adventurers  speak  of  a 
"string  talk  letter,  that  we'd  learned  the  way  of  it  from  a 


124      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

blind  beggar  in  the  Punjab."  And  he  to  whom  the  man 
tells  his  story  makes  this  comment:  "I  remembered  that 
there  had  once  come  to  the  office  a  blind  man  with  a  knotted 
twig  and  a  piece  of  string  which  he  wound  round  the  twig 
according  to  some  cipher  of  his  own.  He  could,  after  the 
lapse  of  days  or  hours,  repeat  the  sentence  which  he  had 
reeled  up.  He  had  reduced  the  alphabet  to  eleven  primi- 
tive sounds,  and  tried  to  teach  me  his  method,  but  failed." 

The  knots  tied  in  handkerchiefs  by  forgetful  people  to 
this  day,  to  remind  them  of  things  they  want  to  remember, 
are  a  relic  of  this  ancient  method  of  record.  And  it  sug- 
gests itself  that  the  various  primitive  occupations  mentioned 
might  be  utilized  even  with  our  modern  children  in  a  simi- 
lar way,  at  least  in  the  pre-writing  period.  It  shows  that 
this  pre-writing  period  may  not  be  entirely  devoid  of  record- 
taking. 

Considering  other  occupations  fitted  for  children,  plant- 
ing deserves  much  more  attention  than  it  receives  even  now 
when  the  school  garden  idea  has  been  broached.  Planting  has  a 
close  connection  with  cooking,  and  should  be  related  to  it 
in  part.  School  gardens  ought  to  be  a  regular  appendage 
to  every  school.  They  should  have  a  use  not  only  for  the 
study  of  plants  as  such,  as  a  help  in  nature  work,  but  also 
for  the  raising  of  plants  and  vegetables  for  consumption  in 
kitchen  work.  Cooking  is  also  intimately  related  to  physio- 
logy and  hygiene,  and  a  rational  correlation  of  these  sub- 
jects will  prove  far  more  beneficial  than  the  teaching  of  a 
bogus   physiology   from   unscientific   textbooks. 

That  cooking  is  not  merely  an  upper  grade  and  high 
school  study  for  girls  who  don  cap  and  apron  in  eflEective 
coquetry,  but  can  be  introduced  systematically  and  with 
good  effect  in  the  lowest  grades,  has  been  demonstrated  in 
progressive  kindergartens  and  primary  classes. 

Let  us  be  reminded  that  planting,  as  explained  before,  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  experiences  for  the  young  by 
which  to  learn  one  of  the  first  fundamental  conditions  upon 
which  human  civilization  rests.  The  transition  from 
nomadic  life  to  agriculture  marked  the  beginning  of  settled 
society  in  the  history  of  the  race,  and  it  is  well  that  this 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       125 

stage  in  the  humanizing  of  the  child  should  be  well  im- 
proved. 

On  the  general  value  of  domestic  study  for  girls,  a  wise 
mother,  in  reply  to  the  question,  "If  you  had  girls  of  your 
own,  would  you  give  them  the  same  education  that  you  had, 
or  would  you  try  to  improve  upon  it?"  is  quoted  by  Jeamie 
Josephine  Starr,  in  "Good   Housekeeping",  as  saying: 

"I  shall  make  them  (the  daughters)  feel  the  dignity  of 
hand  labor,  and  teach  them  not  to  despise  household  work, 
by  beginning  in  early  childhood  to  teach  them  to  sew,  to  be 
orderly  about  their  own  possessions,  to  take  the  responsi- 
bility of  some  light  household  duty,  and  hold  them  to  its 
correct  fulfilment.  When  they  leave  school  or  college,  I 
shall  entrust  to  them,  by  degrees,  as  much  of  the  home 
management  as  possible;  but  I  shall  insist  on  an  early  ac- 
quaintance, in  childhood  and  girlhood,  with  some  details 
of  homemaking;  because,  however  brilliant  a  girl  may  be 
mentally,  she  needs  the  practical  knowledge  which  the  man- 
agement of  a  home  can  best  give  and  if  she  acquires  a  dis- 
taste for  household  affairs  thru  lack  of  habit  and  training, 
no  amount  of  brains  will  help  her  over  the  knotty  problems 
of  domestic  life,  till  she  learns  how  to  do  things  herself,  and 
an  early  training,  acquired  most  unconsciously,  will  save 
hours  of  unhappiness.  I  know  of  so  many  college-bred 
women  and  teachers  who  loathe  housekeeping,  even  in  homes 
of  their  own,  because  they  never  learned  how;  while  to  me 
housekeeping,  because  I  understand  it,  is  an  interesting  oc- 
cupation— one  which  forms  but  a  single  item  in  my  daily 
interests,  because  I  learned  to  systematize  and  then  dismiss 
it." 

Domestic  science  and  practice,  it  ought  to  be  added,  is 
not  exclusively  a  study  for  girls.  When  rightly  taught,  as 
the  science  and  art  of  right  living,  it  is  as  interesting  and 
valuable  to  boys.  It  was  a  lesson  not  soon  to  be  forgotten 
by  the  managers  of  vacation  schools  that  boys  were  as  eager 
as  the  girls  in  taking  lessons  in  cooking  and  sewing,  as  they 
were  to  do  shopwork,  and  not  a  few  surpassed  the  girls  in 
application  and  ability.  It  may  be  remarked  that  the  best 
cooks  are  "chefs",  and  the  best  ladies'  tailors  are  men. 


126      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

Another  kind  of  work  well  adapted  to  children  is  paper 
work.  There  is  the  weaving  of  mats  which  should,  how- 
ever, be  done  on  a  considerably  larger  scale  than  is  usually 
done  in  the  kindergarten.  "Bogus  paper"  and  linen  are 
other  materials  which  can  be  used  for  the  same  work  and 
have  many  advantages.  With  the  introduction  of  scissors, 
many  helpful  exercises  will  commend  themselves.  Pictures 
may  be  cut  out  and  mounted;  thru  folding  and  cutting, 
many  forms  of  beauty  may  be  developed,  and  much  work 
in  design  can  be  done.  But  the  same  caution  as  for  weav- 
ing should  be  heeded;  avoid  small-sized  work — it  is  best  for 
little  fingers  to  do  coarse  work  on  a  large  scale. 

Freehand  tearing  and  cutting  is  very  valuable  in  art 
representation,  and  may  be  developed  into  silhouette  work. 
This  aflFords  much  inspiration  for  home  occupation;  indeed 
all  work  done  in  school  will  find  its  test  as  educational  work 
by  the  effect  it  will  have  upon  the  conduct  of  the  child  at 
home. 

Cardboard  exercises,  leading  up  to  the  essential  elements 
of  decorative  pasteboard  work  and  even  bookbindery,  will 
lend  their  aid  to  geometrical  construction  and  demonstra- 
tion. Or  rather,  out  of  the  concrete  experience  of  this 
kind  of  work  will  gradually  arise  an  understanding  of 
mathematical  relations  of  form.  Then,  it  will  be  connected 
with  other  studies,  by  being  made  subservient  to  them. 
Boxes  and  trays  may  be  made  for  seeds,  specimens  and  col- 
lections of  all  kinds;  files  and  portfolios,  to  keep  pictures 
and  clippings,  etc. 

Many  of  the  forms  built  in  cardboard  may  be  repeated  in 
the  workshop  of  the  higher  grades,  in  tin;  while  there  will  be 
few  new  form  concepts  developed  in  this  way,  there  is  a  set 
of  new  experiences  as  to  material,  tools,  and  method. 

Much  of  this  work,  as  has  been  shown,  will  serve  as 
illustrative  work,  by  being  intimately  interwoven  with  other 
branches,  so  as  to  establish  a  system  of  associations  and  ap- 
perceptive relations.  We  may  once  more  be  reminded  of  the 
value  of  motor  images,  or  memories,  for  the  building  up  and 
reproduction  of  our  concepts. 

Special  work  may  be  required  in  spedal  branches.    Draw- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       127 

ing,  e.  g.,  is  the  common  servant  of  geography,  history,  na- 
ture work,  etc.,  etc.  Map  drawing,  the  making  of  relief  maps 
in  papier  mache,  salt,  putty,  and  other  material,  will  enhance 
the  work  in  geography;  pictures  and  products  will  be  col- 
lected, stored  and  mounted. 

Here  are  a  few  suggestions  from  the  practice  of  some  pro- 
gressive schools: 

I.  Articles  for  use  in  the  school  made  with  easy  stitches,  e. 
g.  overcasting,  braiding  of  soft  fibres  and  coarse  weaving. 

II.  Work  in  sewing  is  connected  on  the  side  of  clothing 
with  the  social  work;  skins,  furs,  and  their  treatment;  study 
of  wool ;  all  primitive  processes  of  preparation  from  raw  wool 
to  woven  cloth.    Technical  work:  making  of  work  bags. 

Knotted  cords,  plaited  mat,  bow  and  arrow,  knotted  bag, 
wigwam,  moccasin,  snowshoes,  bead  weaving,  canoe,  baskets. 

III.  Textile  work:  textile  industry  taken  up  from  social 
side  in  each  race  studied.  Technical  work:  characteristic 
costume  for  each  race ;  equipment  for  work  bags,  e.  g.  needle- 
book  and  pin  cushion.  Alaska:  course  in  simple  tie  knots, 
frame  for  fishing  sloop,  net  for  fishing  sloop,  frame  for  bead 
weaving,  bead  weaving.  Scandinavia:  milk  wagon.  Viking 
ship.  Switzerland:  Chalet,  dress  doll.  Lincoln:  log  cabin, 
rough  stool  and  table.  Robinson  Crusoe:  baskets,  tent,  raft, 
ladder,  cable. 

And  thus  it  is  carried  on  to  higher  modes  of  occupation  and 
an  understanding  of  higher  processes  of  manufacture.  These 
samples  of  what  has  been  done  in  some  schools  cannot  serve 
as  models,  as  every  school  has  its  own  problem  to  solve.  They 
are  simply  suggestive,  even  in  their  mistakes. 

Assembled  Work,  by  which  is  meant  the  combination  of 
separate  pieces  or  kinds  of  work  into  sets,  or  groups,  is  largely 
illustrative  in  character.  It  will  draw  upon  various  occupa- 
tions to  produce  a  whole.  There  may  also  be  an  assembling 
from  different  classes,  each  contributing  its  share,  on  the  level 
of  its  ability,  to  the  complete  production.  Thus,  one  class 
may  build  the  doll's  house;  another  may  furnish  it;  still 
another  may  surround  it  with  a  fence  and  supply  it  with  gar- 
den and  farm  tools  for  the  attached  farm  yard ;  a  fourth  may 
dress  the  dolls,  supply  the  beds  and  blankets,  etc     Or  an 


128      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

entire  farm  may  be  built  up ;  or  a  set  of  furniture  for  a  large 
doll  may  be  made,  including  pictures  and  picture  frames,  car- 
pets (on  a  half-grown  scale)  woven,  curtains  and  doilies  sup- 
plied, and  the  doll  herself  furnished  with  a  complete  "trous- 
seau" to  finish  out  the  idea  of  complete  equipment. 

The  sand  table  will  be  an  important  basis  for  another 
class  of  illustrative,  assembled  work.  On  it  there  may  be 
built  up  landscapes  and  scenery  for  illustration  of  countries, 
customs  and  historical  events.  Cities  may  be  outlined,  and 
Indian  villages  constructed.  The  human  figures  may  be  mod- 
eled in  clay,  or  whittled  out  in  wood,  and  dressed  appropri- 
ately in  various  fashions.  The  houses  may  be  built  of  wood 
and  clay,  or  modeled  in  cardboard.  So-called  "modeling 
sheets"  may  be  bought  ready  drawn  at  the  stationer's.  Huts 
and  wigwams  may  be  made  of  twigs,  cloth  and  chamois.  Pot- 
tery and  implements  can  be  supplied,  and  mosses,  ferns  and 
other  plants  of  proper  selection,  rocks  and  soils,  will  add  to 
the  effect  and  instructional  value.  The  work  can  be  made 
to  grow,  by  gradual  additions  thruout  the  year,  or  term. 
Mechanical  devices  and  moving  things  may  be  added:  mills, 
water  works,  processions,  workmen  at  work — driven  by  sand, 
water,  or  clockwork.  Models  of  inventions  may  be  con- 
structed: engines,  machines,  steamers,  bridges,  in  wood,  wire, 
tin  and  cardboard.  It  has  been  the  custom  of  many  high 
schools,  in  reading  Caesar,  to  have  the  pupils  make  models 
of  the  famous  bridge  across  the  Rhine.  There  is  a  multi- 
tude of  other  things. 

The  schools  that  afford  their  pupils  the  advantage  of  a 
large  school  yard,  perhaps  even  a  real  school  ground,  may 
transplant  some  of  this  work  outdoors.  Thus  the  pupils  may 
have  their  forts  and  wigwams,  their  mills  and  bridges, 
their  mountains  and  play  houses  on  a  semi-natural  scale  in  the 
yard,  and  represent  with  their  own  persons  events  and  cus- 
toms of  foreign  lands  or  olden  times  dramatically. 

The  suggestions  offered  in  this  chapter  are  but  fragmentary, 
it  is  true.  But  they  will  suffice  to  indicate  the  enormous  pos- 
sibilities which  a  well-articulated  course  of  manual  work  pos- 
sesses, and  the  great  variety  of  exercises  that  may  be  summed 
up  under  this  head.    This  variety  leaves  ample  margin  for 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       129 

individual  freedom  and  choice,  and  for  the  manifold  differ- 
ences which  may  exist  in  the  local  conditions  of  schools,  or  the 
varying  characteristics  of  classes,  or  groups  of  children.  There 
will  never  be  any  need  of  forcing  a  child  into  the  narrow 
grooves  of  artificial  and  one-sided  "sequences".  There  is 
enough  of  the  play  interest  connected  with  the  exercises  sug- 
gested to  make  the  work  attractive;  and  enough  of  plan,  and 
practice,  and  information,  thru  experience  and  expression,  to 
bring  out  the  full  educational  value  of  manual  training. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Mathematical  Evolution   of  the   Child 

ONE  of  the  chief  values  of  the  study  of  mathe- 
matics has  been  found  in  its  universality.  It 
encompasses  the  entire  world  of  existence.  It 
enables  us  to  bring  the  most  distant  worlds  and 
the  most  minute  forms  under  the  scrutiny  of 
the  mind,  and  to  organize  them  all  in  one  grand  system  of 
order  and  harmony.  Where  words  would  be  clumsy, 
awkward  and  circumlocutary,  entirely  inadequate  to  medi- 
ate a  clear  and  immediate  perception,  a  mathematical  form- 
ula will  be  found  to  express  a  universal  truth  in  terse  and 
pregnant  form.  To  illustrate  this,  we  need  only  to  com- 
pare the  statement:  "The  square  of  the  sum  of  two  quanti- 
ties is  equal  to  the  sum  of  the  squares  of  the  two  quantities 
plus  twice  their  product,"  with  the  formula:  (a+b)*=a'-f 
2ab-fb'. 

Quantitative  relations  of  enormous  proportions  can,  thru 
a  formula,  be  reduced  to  simple  forms  easily  handled  and 
readily  understood.  The  statement  of  the  eternal  lawp 
which  govern  this  wonderful  world  of  ours  would  be  very 
difficult  if  we  were  left  without  the  use  of  mathematical 
symbols.  Thru  them,  we  can  arrive  at  the  highest  abstrac- 
tions. Mathematics  has  therefore  proven  itself  an  indis- 
pensible  helper  towards  a  philosophical  conception  of  the 
world  and  its  forces.  It  is  a  ready  tool  of  the  thinker,  and 
he  who  has  not  learned  to  think  in  abstract  mathematical 
terms  will  never  reach  the  mountain  top  of  thought  from 
where  a  universal  view  may  be  taken. 

No  wonder  that  when   the  ancients,   from  early  crude 

130 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       131 

conceptions,  had  worked  out  the  science  of  mathematics, 
as  the  first  of  the  exact  sciences,  they  exalted  it  into  a 
philosophic  system  which  they  imagined  would  solve  the 
problem  of  existence.  Magic  powers  were  attributed  to 
numbers,  and  even  Greek  philosophers  built  their  world 
conception  upon  mysterious  numerical  relations.  What 
had  been  merely  a  tool  for  the  training  of  the  mind  in  mas- 
tering the  thought-forms  of  space  and  time — what  was  not 
in  itself  concrete  existence,  but  a  symbol  of  relations — as- 
sumed the  semblance  of  reality  and  developed  a  ghost-like 
substantiality  which  has  haunted  our  minds  ever  since  the 
time  of  Plato.  How  little  of  concreteness  number  has  to 
us,  how  clearly  it  manifests  its  symbolical  function,  will 
become  evident  when  we  probe  into  our  numerical  concepts 
and  ask  ourselves  how  far  up  in  the  scale  of  number  we 
have  any  clear  notion  of  quantity.  Who  is  there  that  can 
readily  recognize  100,  or  even  50,  yea,  10,  without  count- 
ing, or  grouping,  the  units?  And  yet,  we  manipulate  mil- 
lions and  hundreds  of  millions.  This  is  a  purely  abstract 
function. 

If  we  apply  these  facts  to  the  mathematical  side  of  in- 
struction, we  may  have  to  admit  the  unquestionable  and 
prodigious  value  of  mathematics  in  the  training  of  the 
faculty  of  abstract  thinking.  Yet,  we  should  avoid  falling 
into  the  error  of  confusing  mathematical  symbols  with  reali- 
ties. Again,  the  faculty  of  abstract  thinking  is  of  slow 
growth,  and  we  must  not  attempt  to  force  it  before  its  time. 
The  geometry  of  Euclid  was  not  created  until  ages  of  civil- 
izatory  efforts  had  been  lived  thru  by  our  race,  and  before 
there  could  be  any  science  of  number,  there  were  crude 
number  superstitions  coupled  with  the  conception  of  quan- 
tity. These  superstitions  are  not  yet  entirely  vanquished ; 
the  curious  dread  many  uneducated  people  still  have  of  the 
census,  and  the  beliefs  still  haunting  many  persons'  minds 
with  regard  to  the  mysterious  powers  of  such  numbers  as  7, 
3,  or  13,  are  sufficient  proof  of  the  survival  of  these  ancient 
notions.  The  symbol  which  was  destined  to  become  the 
ready  tool  of  the  rational  mind,  was  at  first  a  magical  sign 
endowed  with  mjrstic  powers.     And  then,  all  abstractions 


132       THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

took  their  origin  in  the  world  of  objects — they  are  im- 
possible without  being  abstracted  from  the  concrete,  and  use- 
less unless  they  symbolize  concrete  things  in  their  actual  or 
possible  relations. 

Thus,  mathematical  instruction  must  be  based  upon  the 
world  of  concrete  things,  and  be  continually  related  to  it. 
Like  time  and  space,  the  mathematical  element  is  a  method 
of  the  mind  to  categorize.  Except  in  relation  to  geometry, 
mathematics  is  not  in  itself  concrete.  But,  as  Prof.  W.  S. 
Jackman  once  put  it,  "it  is  its  function  to  give  accuracy  and 
exactness  to  ideas;  to  render  hazy  notions  clear,  and  to 
evolve  the  definite  from  the  indefinite." 

Our  common  practice  in  the  schools  is  not  sufficiently 
consistent  with    rational   methods. 

First  of  all,  there  is  too  much  abstract  work  in  the  early 
grades.  Indeed,  some  of  it  will  always  prove  helpful  in  the 
training  of  the  budding  faculty  of  abstraction,  and,  in  the 
form  of  mental  arithmetic,  will  assist  in  developing  the 
power  to  hold  mental  images  in  mind,  and  to  strengthen  the 
memory  along  this  line.  Let  us  not  forget  that  even  the 
use  of  "denominate"  numbers  requires  much  abstraction  un- 
less the  concrete  image  of  the  things  which  these  denomina- 
tions signify,  is  very  vivid  in  the  child's  mind ;  and  all  "men- 
tal" work  is,  to  the  young  child  at  least,  much  in  the  nature 
of  abstraction  since  he  must  then  even  image  the  mathemat- 
ical symbols.  So  much  of  abstract  work  is  stultifying,  and 
when  we  give  our  little  children  examples  like  this  to  puzzle 
over: 

Divide  25  by  2-9  of  7-8  of  1-17,  etc. — 
we  may  well  question  the  advisability  of  wasting  time  and 
energy  on  such  stuff.     Truly  said  R.  B.  Carter,  in  "Arti- 
ficial Production  of  Stupidity  in  Schools": 

"An  urchin  may  be  able  to  say  correctly  that  a  word  point- 
ed out  to  him  is  an  adverb  or  a  pronoun,  may  proceed  to  give 
a  definition  of  either,  and  examples  of  instances  of  occurrence, 
and  may  produce  the  impression  that  he  understands  all  this, 
when  the  truth  is  that  he  has  only  learned  to  make  certain 
noises  in  a  particular  order  and  is  unable  to  say  anything  intel- 
ligible about  the  matter  in  language  of  his  own.    Or  he  may 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       133 

repeat  the  multiplication  table,  and  even  work  it,  saying  that 
7x8=56,  without  knowing  what  56  is,  or  what  7x8  means. 
He  knows  all  about  7  or  8,  not  from  schooling,  but  from 
the  lessons  of  life,  from  having  had  7  nuts  or  8  marbles; 
but  of  56,  which  is  beyond  his  experience,  he  knows  nothing. 
The  nature  of  the  mental  operations  of  such  children  is  per- 
haps as  little  known  to  the  teacher,  or  to  the  vicar  of  the 
parish,  or  to  the  kind  ladies  who  take  an  interest  in  the  school, 
as  the  mental  operations  of  the  inhabitants  of  Saturn.  The 
adults  distinctly  understand  a  thing  which  they  feel  to  be 
very  easy,  and  do  not  know  that  any  children  can  talk  about 
it  correctly  without  attaching  an  idea  to  their  words." 

Mr.  Carter  wrote  these  words  in  England,  fifty  years  ago! 

We  shall  see  later  that  some  such  drill  has  its  value  during 
the  "counting  period"  of  the  child,  or  for  utilizing  the 
memory  for  the  storing  up  of  material  for  future  use.  But 
surely  Mr.  Carter  was  right  in  claiming  that  56  means  noth- 
ing concrete  to  the  child.    To  how  many  of  us  does  it? 

Another  common  mistake  is  the  attempt  to  exhaust  the 
logical  possibilities  of  number  relations  at  too  early  an  age. 
Thus  the  child  is  not  allowed  to  proceed  to  the  number  8 
until  he  is  supposed  to  have  mastered  all  the  possibilities  up 
to  7.  This  is  the  most  flagrant  fault  of  the  still  surviving 
"Grube"  method.  In  fact,  the  child  can  easily  learn  to  count 
up  to  large  numbers  without  exhausting  any,  and  the  hope  to 
make  him  understand  7  before  he  attacks  8  is  largely  an  illu- 
sion. It  is  a  premature  attempt  at  rationalizing,  besides 
neglecting  the  child's  early  concrete  notions  of  number  as 
derived  from  actual  observation.  He  usually  knows  a  good 
deal  about  8  before  the  pedantic  schoolmaster  deigns  to  take 
official  cognizance  of  the  fact.  It  is  like  the  legal  fiction  that 
a  man  whose  death  certificate  has  once  been  filed,  even  tho  by 
mistaken  identification,  remains  legally  dead,  altho  he  may 
present  himself  in  person  to  the  court,  until  the  court  annuls 
the  death  certificate  officially,  and  with  much  show  of  method. 

We  shall  see  later  that  the  child's  number  concepts  are  of 
twofold  origin ;  the  result,  on  the  one  hand,  of  a  continuous 
series  (counting),  and  of  space  conceptions  on  the  other. 

In  previous  chapters  mention  has  been  made  of  the  unes- 


134      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

sential  details  with  which  the  course  in  arithmetic  is  usually 
overloaded.  Problems  in  partial  payment,  broker's  discount, 
and  in  fact  almost  the  whole  of  commercial  arithmetic  are 
altogether  outside  of  the  child's  province,  and  should  be 
omitted.  Most  of  the  so-called  "practical  examples"  ought  to 
be  weeded  out  and  replaced  by  others  which  are  more  truly 
real  problems  to  the  child.  Of  these  mistermed  "practical 
examples",  we  may  distinguish  two  classes: 

First,  those  that  are  absolutely  wrong,  and  which  only  seem 
to  be  "practical",  because  "practical"  denominations  are  em- 
ployed. To  this  class  belong  examples  like  the  following :  If 
one  horse  costs  $40.00,  how  much  will  20  horses  cost?  or: 
If  one  man  can  do  a  certain  job  in  two  days,  and  another 
could  do  the  same  work  in  four  days,  how  long  would  it  take 
if  they  were  to  work  together?  The  answer  expected  to  the 
first  problem,  $800.00,  would  be  "mathematically"  correct, 
but  "practically"  it  would  signify  an  exception.  It  happens 
rarely  that  there  are  20  horses  of  exactly  the  same  value  on  a 
stock  farm ;  and  if  there  were,  you  could  buy  20  of  them  at 
one  time  at  a  considerable  discount.  In  the  second  case  much 
would  depend  upon  the  possibility  of  the  two  men  working 
together  profitably.  They  might  be  in  each  other's  way.  Or 
the  "personal  equation"  might  interfere.  Or,  they  might  help 
each  other,  thus  saving  time.  Asked  one  teacher:  "If  one 
servant  girl  could  clean  three  rooms  in  two  hours,  how  long 
would  it  take  two  girls  to  do  the  work?"  Little  Girl:  "Four 
hours."  Teacher:  "Wrong.  It  would  take  only  one  hour." 
Little  Girl:  "Oh,  I  didn't  know  you  were  talking  about  ser 
vant  girls  that  wasn't  on  speaking  terms." 

As  far  as  examples  of  this  nature  are  legitimate  at  all,  they 
would  better  be  postponed  until  the  time  that  an  algebraic 
solution  can  be  given. 

A  second  class  of  spurious  "practical"  examples  are  those 
which  are  outside  of  the  child's  knowledge  and  interest.  Most 
of  the  commercial  details  belong  here.  A  child  has  no  inter- 
est in  corner  lots  and  business  speculations,  and  if  he  has  he 
is  not  a  genuine  child.  The  true  child  has  no  experience  in 
these  things.  Those  children  who  will  later  enter  a  business 
life  will   then   have  opportunity  of   obtaining  the   knowl- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       135 

edge  and  concentration  requisite  for  these  operations. 

In  the  next  place  there  is  great  need  of  simplification  and 
unification.  Altogether  too  many  divers  operations  are  dis- 
tinguished which  confuse  the  child's  mind  and  prevent  him 
from  seeing  the  simple  relations,  and  the  fact  that  some  opera- 
tions are  merely  self-evident  adaptations  of  others. 

There  is,  for  instance,  no  need  at  all  to  draw  a  sharp  line 
between  division  and  ratio  and  proportion.  These  two  pro- 
cesses, or  relations,  are  intimately  connected,  in  a  measure  even 
identical.  The  artificial  distinction  is  unduly  emphasized  by 
a  multiplicity  of  signs.  The  child  will  be  unable  to  recognize 
the  essential  identity  of  these  three  propositions: 

3:4::9:i2; 
3-^4=9^12;  and 
^—9-12. 

In  arithmetical  text  books  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  no 
distinction  is  made  between  the  signs  of  division  and  equa- 
tion, and  those  of  ratio  and  prc^ortion.  The  signs  :  and  = 
are  the  only  ones  used,  in  addition  of  course  to  the  fractional 
line.  It  is  not  claimed  here  that  there  is  not  a  logical  dis- 
tinction between  division  and  proportion;  but  a  child  is  not 
concerned  in  this. 

Much  can  be  gained  by  introducing  the  idea  of  equation  at 
an  early  time.  Algebraic  methods,  e.  g.  the  parenthesis,  can 
also  be  used  at  an  early  stage  to  advantage ;  arithmetical  ex- 
amples too  complicated  for  a  convenient  arithmetical  solution 
may  fitly  be  postponed  until  the  algebraic  form  can  be  used. 
Occasional  demonstrations  of  the  value  of  algebraic  form  will 
arouse  an  interest  in  this  before  the  children  are  mature 
enough  to  employ  it  themselves.  The  bewildering  complexity, 
apparent,  not  real,  of  the  problems  in  percentage  will  be  re- 
duced to  a  minimum  when  once  a  formula  like  this  will  be 
grasped : 

Capital  (Base)  x  Per  Cent  x  Time 

=Interest 

100 


136      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

which  may  be  abbreviated  in  various  waj^,  e.  g. : 
C  X  %  X  T 


lOO 

Above  all  things  let  us  avoid  juggling  with  figures  in  the 
elementary  grades.  When  the  work  of  comparison  begins 
mathematical  exercises  become  fruitful  and  educative.  It 
was  preceded  by  the  collection  of  data  (counting)  whose 
principal  value  consists  in  that  it  affords  opportunities  for 
mental  discipline.  "In  making  comparisons",  says  Jackman, 
"there  may  be  recognized  four  modes;  .  .  .  these  four 
modes  in  their  cumulative  complexity  also  bear  a  natural  re- 
lation to  the  development  of  the  child's  mind.  The  first 
mode  of  comparison  which  a  child  uses  is  where  all  the 
quantities  are  ccmsidered  as  wholes"  (the  four  fundamental 
operations;  the  multiplication  tables).  .  .  .  "The  sec- 
ond mode  is  by  considering  one  of  the  quantities  directly 
as  a  part  of  the  other"  (fractions).  .  .  .  "In  the  third 
mode  of  comparison  the  child  may  use  either  quantity  as  the 
standard,  but  he  must  be  able  to  conceive  of  it  as  being  rep- 
resented by  unity"  (ratio  and  proportion).  .  .  .  "In 
the  fourth  mode  the  pupil  must  be  able  to  conceive  of  one 
of  the  quantities  being  represented  by  one  hundred"  (per- 
centage)    .     .     . 

All  exercises  in  mathematical  accuracy  will  have  to  be 
grouped  around  these  central  thoughts  and  relations,  and 
consequently  be  adapted  to  the  development  of  the  child's 
mind  itself. 

As  a  reaction  against  the  ordinary  methods  of  teaching 
number,  the  ratio  method  has  been  suggested  by  such  men  as 
Dewey,  McClellan,  and  Speer.  The  keynote  of  this  doc- 
trine is  struck  in  the  preface  to  Mr.  Speer's  book:  "The 
fundamental  thing  is  to  induce  judgments  of  relative  magni- 
tude." The  theory  is  that  the  child  should  be  set,  not  to 
studying  about  number,  nor  to  learning  how  to  manipulate 
the  bare  symbols  of  number,  but  to  exercising  an  activity 
which  involves  number,  or  which  is  number.     It  is  claimed 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       137 

by  this  theory  that  the  number  by  itself  indicates  relative 
value.  It  always  expresses  ratio,  i.  e.  the  relation  vs^hich  the 
magnitude  to  be  measured  bears  to  the  unit  of  reference. 

We  may  agree  that  number,  being  based  on  measurement, 
is  ratio,  philosophically  considered;  but  this  relation  is  not 
graspable  by  young  children  to  the  extent  this  newer  method 
of  teaching  number  demands.  The  ratio  idea,  being  a  ra- 
tional idea,  develops  slowly.  The  child  compares  primarily 
magnitudes  in  a  more  or  less  crude  way.  Magnitude  to  the 
child  is  more  or  less  the  same  as  aggregation. 

We  cannot  be  too  cautious  in  not  expecting  too  much  rea- 
soning from  the  young  child.  It  is  clearly  a  mistake  to  in- 
sist pedantically  upon  the  "whereas"  and  "therefor".  Ex- 
periments on  mathematical  reasoning  have  been  made  by 
numerous  psychologists.  John  A.  Hancock  shows  that  in  the 
solution  of  the  examples  upon  which  the  tests  were  based, 
and  which  were  graduated  according  to  the  knowledge  the 
pupils  were  supposed  to  possess,  errors  in  reasoning  were 
quite  frequent  below  the  I2th  year;  not  before  this  period 
is  the  number  of  errors  less  than  50  per  cent.,  the  boys  being 
usually  ahead  of  the  girls.  "The  errors  may  be  all  heard  or 
seen  daily;  children  hearing  them  rarely  manifest  suspicion 
of  their  absurdity."  Typical  examples  of  the  mistakes  are 
as  follows:  "Three  feet  equals  fifteen  inches,  or  one-third  of 
twelve  inches."  "Five  dozen  eggs  cost  five  times  fifteen 
cents,  or  sixty  eggs  cost  sixty  times  fifteen  cents." 

Speer's  method  which  has  found  favor  with  many  teachers, 
employs  the  motor  activities  of  the  child,  and  is  thoroly 
objective.  It  bases  arithmetic  on  geometry.  So  far,  it  is 
rational.  But  it  neglects  too  much  one  of  the  two  sources 
of  mathematical  conceptions.  These  two  sources  are,  first, 
counting,  and  second,  measurement  and  form.  The  "new 
arithmetic"  is  based  on  the  second,  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
first. 

"The  starting  point  of  arithmetic",  says  Prof.  Hermann 
Schubert,  "is  the  idea  of  counting  and  of  number  as  the  re- 
sult of  counting.  .  .  .  The  idea  of  addition  springs 
immediately  from  the  idea  of  counting."  Of  the  "counting 
period"  in  young  children,  following  the  "naming  period", 


138      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

mention  has  been  made  before.  Pres.  G.  Stanley  Hall  refers 
to  the  primitive  tallying  and  counting,  to  be  observed  in 
babies,  as  previous  to  the  use  of  mathematical  symbols.  To 
the  extreme  advocates  of  exclusive  workshop  arithmetic, 
Prof.  J.  A.  McClellan  answers  very  justly  as  follows: 

'The  normal  action  is  thwarted  by  the  irrational  arithme- 
tic of  quality,  and  the  servile  worshippers  of  qualitative 
unities.  For  when  the  child,  in  counting  and  measuring, 
is  forced,  by  the  workshop  routinist,  to  dwell  upon  the 
'qualitative  aspects':  to  exercise  his  growing  power  of  dis- 
crimination and  relation  upon  the  qualities  of  things,  care- 
fully noting  perceived  objects,  and  all  the  qualities  that 
make  them  what  they  are,  the  mental  movement  of  numeri- 
cal abstraction  and  generalization,  which  alone  results  in 
numerical  ideas,  is  either  impeded,  or  absolutely  arrested. 
But  let  the  child  be  interested  in  finding  the  how  much  of 
some  quantity;  then,  in  his  operation  of  counting  and  meas- 
uring he  will  inevitably  'drop  the  qualitative  and  consider 
only  the  quantitative  aspect.'  Every  parent  has  seen  the 
little  one  counting  the  groups  of  familiar  things  about  him; 
has  seen  and  rejoiced  in  it  as  indicating  a  higher  energy 
struggling  for  expression.  .  .  .  When  our  playmates 
challenged  us  to  a  comparison  of  treasures,  of  playthings 
.  .  .  we  emptied  our  capacious  pockets  of  all  that  they 
contained — common  marbles,  china  alleys,  jewsharps,  knives, 
tops,  whistles,  pea-shooters,  and  so  on — motley  quantities 
they  were ;  but  they  were  quantities;  quantities  needing  meas- 
urement to  decide  the  question  as  to  who  was  the  richer  or 
richest  boy.  Was  ours  then  an  arithmetic  of  the  qualitative 
or  the  quantitative  sort?  .  .  .  We  saw  in  an  instant 
that  top,  marble,  and  whistle,  and  knife,  whatever  their 
qualitative  differences,  were  all  alike  in  this — they  were 
playthings — and  therefore  each  contributed  its  part  in  mak- 
ing up  the  'how  many'  which  defined  the  'how  much',  the 
end  and  purpose  we  had  in  view." 

In  the  matter  of  facts,  McClellan  is  correct;  but  he 
overestimates  plainly  the  abstractive  faculties  of  the  young 
child.  This  primitive  counting  is  based  not  so  much  upon 
measurement  as  upon  the  series  idea.  Boys,  when  interested  in 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       139 

measurement,  have  already  touched  the  threshold  of  mathe- 
matical reasoning,  and  cannot  be  said  to  be  still  on  the  level 
of  rudimentary  concepts. 

Dr.  Paul  Carus  contributes  these  observations  to  the  prob- 
lem under  discussion: 

"My  experience  is  that  children  will,  without  the  sli^test 
trouble,  learn  to  count  first  to  12,  then  to  20.  When  they 
have  learnt  to  count  to  20,  they  are  prepared  to  count  to 
any  number  up  to  100  or  more.  The  third  step  is  an  intel- 
lectual step,  by  learning  to  understand  the  function  of  the 
decades  30,  40,  50,  etc.,  which  are,  however,  clearly  grasped 
as  running  parallel  with  3,  4,  5,  and  so  forth." 

This  counting  is  not  necessarily  bound  up  with  objects. 
It  is  in  its  nature  rhythmical,  neither  qualitative,  nor  truly 
quantitative,  in  the  sense  in  which  Prof.  McClellan  uses 
these  terms.     Says  Dr.  Carus: 

"One  peculiar  phase  in  learning  how  to  count  is  marked 
by  the  child's  ability  to  stop  at  the  right  time.  Children 
first  acquire  the  mechanical  memory  of  saying  i,  2,  3,  4,  5, 
etc.  When  they  are  shown  five  spoons  or  five  chips  or  other 
things  of  any  description  and  are  requested  to  count  them, 
they  begin  to  count  mechanically  without  being  able  to  stop 
at  the  right  time.  It  indicates  a  more  advanced  degree  of 
mentality  when  the  child  possesses  a  perfect  parallelism  be- 
tween the  names  of  the  numbers  and  the  things  which,  by 
being  pointed  at,  are  to  be  counted.  The  process  of  counting 
has  reached  its  maturity  when  a  child  learns  to  stop  at  the 
proper  time.  In  the  beginning  the  tendency  will  predomin- 
ate that  whenever  the  child  begins  to  count,  it  will  count  the 
whole  series  of  numbers  as  far  as  it  knows  them;  but  the 
relation  between  the  things  and  the  series  of  word-images 
of  the  numerals  is  easily  established  by  stopping  the  child 
and  summing  up  the  situation  by  saying:  There  are  five 
spoons,  there  are  five  chips,  or  whatever  it  may  be." 

Counting  is  automatically  induced  by  the  rhythmical 
movements  of  the  body — breathing,  heart-beat,  walking,  the 
swinging  of  arms  in  walking,  etc.  We  are  bound  up  in 
rhythm — our  life  is  a  rhythmical  series.  To  what  minute 
extent  this  is  true,  and  how  the  fate  of  our  existence  depends 


140      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

upon  this  individual  rhythm  of  each  one  of  us,  has  quite 
recently  been  brought  to  light  by  the  investigations  of  the 
Austrian  professor  Swoboda  on  the  "Critical  Days  of  Man." 
This  natural  life  series  has  given  rise  to  the  number  series; 
the  names  are  but  symbols,  mnemonic  signs,  serving  as  cogs 
to  the  memory.  In  this  sense,  the  concept  of  time  is  gained 
by  counting,  as  a  rhythmical  succession.  This  concept  is 
very  hazy  in  the  beginning.  The  historic  sense,  conditioned 
as  it  is  by  the  time  concept,  depends  in  the  beginning  of  its 
evolution  upon  tallying  and  concrete  helps  which  characterize 
the  early  records,  transmitted  first  orally,  and  then  in  some 
symbolic  form.  The  sense  of  space  is  also  conditioned  by  the 
rhythmical  movements  of  the  body  in  walking,  counting  the 
steps. 

The  idea  of  real  number  develops  very  slowly.  Prof.  Th. 
Ribot,  in  his  researches  concerning  the  intelligence  of  ani- 
mals, speaks  of  the  perception  of  plurality  as  distinct  from 
numeration.  The  former  is  found  in  animals.  The  logic 
of  animals,  or  rather  the  sole  kind  of  logic  possible  without 
speech,  is  the  logic  of  images.  This  is  refractory  to  attempt 
at  substitution,  as  of  signs  for  concrete  facts.  Even  elemen- 
tary arithmetical  problems,  it  must  be  noted,  are  worked  out 
by  using  the  logic  of  signs,  replacing  the  concrete  facts  by 
figures,  and  working  out  the  relations  of  these.  "The  child", 
says  the  same  author  elsewhere,  "may  recite  a  series  of  nu- 
merical words  that  have  been  taught  him ;  but  so  long  as  he 
fails  to  apply  each  term  of  the  series  correctly  to  a  number 
of  corresponding  objects,  he  does  not  understand  it.  .  .  . 
This  comprehension  is  only  acquired  slowly  and  at  a  some- 
what late  period.  .  .  .  The  child  appreciates  by  space 
and  not  by  number." 

Of  this  last  statement,  more  will  be  said  presently. 

To  understand  more  clearly  the  painful  slowness  which 
characterizes  the  development  of  numeration  out  of  the  per- 
ception of  plurality,  we  may  remember  the  development  of 
the  ideas  of  singular,  dual,  and  plural.  To  quote  again  from 
Ribot:  "Nothing  appears  more  natural  and  clear-cut  than 
the  distinction  between  one  and  several ;  as  soon  as  we  exceed 
pure  unity,  the  mother  of  numbers,  plurality  appears  to  us 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       141 

to  be  homogeneous  in  all  its  degrees.  It  has  not  been  so  from 
the  beginning.  This  is  proved  by  the  existence  of  the  dual 
in  an  enormous  number  of  languages.  .  .  .  One,  two, 
were  counted  with  precision;  the  rest  was  vague.  Accord- 
ing to  Sayce,  the  word  'three'  in  Aryan  language  at  first 
signified  'what  goes  beyond.'  It  has  been  supposed  that  the 
dual  was  at  first  applied  to  the  paired  parts  of  the  body: 
the  eyes,  the  arms,  the  legs.  Intellectual  progress  caused  it 
to  fall   into  disuse." 

The  slow  development  of  clear  number  conceptions  is 
paralleled  by  the  tardy  invention  of  handy  methods  of  fig- 
uring. It  is  not  even  necessary  to  go  back  to  the  primitive 
methods  of  using  fingers,  knotted  cords,  abacus,  and  other 
concrete  helps.  Even  the  Roman  notation  throws  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  the  mathematician  of  which  we  have  hardly 
a  conception  now.  How  irrational  appears  the  Roman  form 
in  comparison  with  the  Arabic  notation  in  this  simple  prob- 
lem: 

XI  II 

XL  40 


LI  51 

Giving  just  one  example  of  an  ancient  method  of  reckon- 
ing we  may  select  the  Egyptian  as  typical.  In  spite  of  the 
fact  that  the  ancient  Nile  valley  dwellers  were  wonderful 
architects  and  were  quite  advanced  in  astronomy  and  re- 
ligious philosophy,  they  worked  their  examples  largely  by  a 
series  of  additions,  splittings  of  fractions,  and  with  the  help 
of  tables  of  doubles,  etc.  For  instance,  if  one  wished  to 
find  out  how  many  times  7  is  contained  in  77,  he  must  use 
the  following  table  of  factors  of  7: 


*I 

7» 

•2 

14* 

4 

28 

*8 

56* 

16 

112  etc,  etc. 

142      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

Those  numbers  are  marked  with  asterisks  whose  sum  on 
the  right  is  77,  and  the  sum  of  the  corresponding  numbers 
on  the  left  is  the  answer.  They  therefore  substituted  an 
addition  process  for  one  of  division.  The  ancient  Egyptian 
calculators  seem  to  have  preferably  used  multiples  and  sub- 
multiples  of  2.  Thus,  to  divide  19  by  8,  the  following  ta- 
ble of  factors  was  used: 


I 

•2 

8 
16 

/2           4 

♦^ 

2 

*/8 

I 

As  16+2+1=19,  the  quotient  sought  was  accordingly 
2+j4+H»  or  2%.  Fractions  with  numerators  greater 
than  unity  seem  not  to  have  been  employed.  For  the  solu- 
tion of  what  would  to  us  seem  a  simple  algebraic  problem, 
the  Egyptian  calculator  would  probably  have  had  to  consult 
half  a  dozen  different  tables  of  factors.* 

The  movements  with  which  young  children  accompany 
their  counting — tapping,  pounding,  etc.,  indicate  that  coun- 
ing  is  a  motor  act.  Number  is  the  result  of  repetition.  It  is 
therefore  evident  that  even  this  side  of  the  mathematical  de- 
velopment is  based  upon  concrete  activity. 

Ribot  claims  that  the  child  appreciates  by  space  and  not  by 
number.  Early  number  conceptions,  involving  the  idea  of 
magnitude  proper,  are  in  reality  space  conceptions.  This  is 
also  corroborated  by  the  curious  "number  forms"  with  which 


*A  very  instructive  treatise  on  primitive  and  ancient  meth- 
ods of  calculation  and  the  development  of  the  number  con- 
cepts in  the  past  and  in  the  child  is  contained  in  Vol.  VIII 
of  the  Science  History  of  the  Universe,  Current  Literature 
Publ.  Co.,  1909. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       143 

most  people,  more  or  less  unconsciously,  accompany  their 
ideas  of  number.  A  very  instructive  study  of  these  "num- 
ber forms"  has  been  published  in  the  American  Journal  of 
Psychology,  by  D.  E.  Phillips.  He  M^rites:  "Without  doubt 
children  tend  to  connect  some  movement  or  extension  in 
space  with  numbers,  and  it  is  here  that  we  are  to  find  the 
genesis  of  number  forms.  Back  of  any  visual  image  seen  by 
the  mind's  eye  is  the  motor  element  in  thought,  which  must 
have  space  as  background." 

But  these  space  concepts  are  very  indefinite  in  the  begin- 
ning. They  contain  little  of  attempted  measurement,  only 
perhaps  a  crude  comparison  of  distance  and  aggregation,  or 
perhaps  only  of  form  in  general.  The  idea  of  ratio  as  such 
is  still  rudimentary. 

However,  this  consideration  introduces  the  second  source 
of  mathematical  conceptions:  measurement,  i.  e.  geometrical 
perception.  And  here  suggestions  like  Speer's  have  their 
place  if  they  are  supplemented  by  manual  exercises  of  various 
kinds.  Elementary  geography  has  decided  geometrical  fea- 
tures— the  relation  of  objects  in  the  room,  position,  etc.,  are 
all  elements  to  be  considered. 

Now,  the  real  problem  seems  to  be:  which  of  these  pro- 
cesses precedes  the  other  in  the  mathematical  evolution  of 
the  child?  And  it  is  this  problem  over  which  the  greatest 
diversity  of  opinion  has  been  expressed,  from  the  time  of  the 
famous  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen  to  this  day. 

As  is  the  case  in  so  many  discussions,  both  contending 
opinions  are  perhaps  right  to  some  extent,  and  the  truth  can 
be  found  midway  between  them.  It  may  be  difficult  to  de- 
cide absolutely  which  one  of  the  two  operations,  counting  or 
measuring,  or  quantitative  and  qualitative  arithmetic,  is 
chronologically  prior  to  the  other.  In  all  likelihood,  the  two 
processes  develop  partways  alongside  of  each  other,  without 
at  first  being  logically  connected.  To  follow  them  up  in 
their  distinctive  evolution  will  require  more  exact  psycho- 
logic data  than  there  are  at  hand.  Primitive  counting,  cer- 
tainly, does  not  consider  quality,  but  is  a  mechanical,  or  per- 
haps physiological,  series,  and  the  objects  serve  as  artificial 
cogs,  as  the  primitive  knotted  cord. 


144      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

The  rhythmic  movements  of  the  body  which  are  at  the 
basis  of  counting,  have  possibly  induced  the  idea  of  space  and 
time  relations,  and  with  them  the  process  of  comparison  and 
measurement  in  space  and  time.  At  any  rate,  the  higher 
conceptions  of  number  rest  on  motor  and  space  elements 
that  have  a  qualitative  interest.  From  there,  the  still  higher 
abstraction  is  made  towards  the  conception  of  pure  quantity, 
quantity  as  free  from  qualitative  elements. 

This  suggests  that  in  the  youngest  years  of  the  child's 
school  life,  including  at  least  the  so-called  first  grade,  we 
should  be  satisfied  mainly  with  crude  exercises  in  counting 
and  tallying,  together  with  some  memory  drill  in  the  multipli- 
cation tables,  for  the  sake  of  storing  up  material.  Little  or  no 
rationalization,  or  "example"  work,  should  be  attempted. 
Many  children  will  need  patience,  and  long  toleration  of 
crude  conceptions,  thru  the  greater  part  of  their  school  life. 

For  the  development  of  real  mathematical  conceptions, 
ideas  of  number  and  magnitude,  manual  work  and  actual 
measurements  of  all  kinds  will  form  the  safest  basis,  and  this 
may  be  done  somewhat  independently,  alongside  with  count- 
ing. 

The  artificial  (logical)  sequence  of  exercises  as  found  n 
our  schools  is  largely  unwarranted.  The  method  of  pre.? 
tation  is  really  more  important  than  the  "logical"  gradir. 
of  problems.  Yet,  we  may  remember  the  sequence  of  the 
four  processes  as  described  by  Jackman.  In  a  simple  way, 
these  processes  may  be  introduced  simultaneously,  and  carried 
on  in  concentric  circles.  Care  should  be  taken  not  to  mix 
the  processes  unduly,  as  is  often  done,  e.  g.  when  a  pretense 
is  made  to  teach  decimals  when  in  reality  they  are  treated 
as  common  fractions.  For  example:  when  0.25  is  treated  as 
if  it  read  34-  It  is  equal  to  %,  and  the  child  may  be  made 
to  see  that;  but  the  decimal  fraction  must  not  be  handled 
in  operation  like  a  common  fraction.  Correlation  is  not 
identical  with  mixing  and  confusing. 

As  to  method,  the  following  hints  may  here  suffice: 

Of  the  first  suggestion:  correlation  with  everything  the 
child  does,  nothing  need  to  be  said  here,  as  there  are  ample 
references  to  this  requirement  in  these  pages. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       145 

An  objective  basis  will  be  established  if  really  practical 
examples  accompany  all  work.  Practical  in  this  sense  refers 
to  experience  and  actual  work  done.  Nature  observations, 
weather  records,  experiments,  manual  exercises,  geographical 
and  historical  data,  etc.,  etc.,  will  furnish  an  abundance  of 
problems.  Cardboard  work,  cutting  out  of  forms  in  soft 
material  and  wood,  and  similar  work,  will  serve  as  an  em- 
piric basis  for  geometry.  Constructive  games  and  puzzles, 
arithmetical  games  and  riddles,  and  the  like,  will  appeal  to 
the  great  puzzle  interest  of  the  children. 

Within  the  province  of  mathematical  work,  there  should 
be  established  an  interrelation  of  geometry  and  algebra  with 
arithmetic.  Geometrical  and  constructive  puzzles  precede 
purely  numerical  puzzles  in  the  interest  curve  of  children. 

The  relation  between  the  three  forms  of  mathematical 
cognition  and  operation  which  are  kept  logically  distinct  by 
the  adult  mind  and  the  philosopher,  but  which  should  not  be 
pedantically  separated  with  the  child,  should  be  constant. 
We  should  at  every  stage  use  the  method  best  adapted  to 
an  easy  and  lucid  solution  of  the  problem  in  hand.  Short 
cuts  are  welcome  whenever  the  child  can  see  thru  them, 
even  tho  he  may  not  be  able  to  reason  them  out  absolutely 
with  a  whereas  and  therefore.  The  intuitive  method  of 
children  need  not  be  too  much  discouraged.  The  algebraic 
notions  of  equation,  parenthesis,  and  the  unknown  quantity 
X,  can  be  employed  to  great  advantage  even  in  the  earlier 
years. 

We  must  understand  that  the  concrete  work  here  recom- 
mended is  to  furnish  the  apperceptive  basis.  There  Is  beyond 
doubt  need  of  drill  In  operations  and  memory  work — in 
quick  perception  and  rapid  solution.  The  aim  must  surely 
be  to  develop  the  faculty  of  abstract  reasoning,  apart  from  a 
clearer  perception  of  objective  work.  Prof.  J.  T.  McCor- 
mack  said  In  one  of  his  thoughtful  essays:  "Natural  arith- 
metical machines  have  been  In  use  among  savage  and  civilized 
nations  from  the  earliest  time.  Their  employment,  however, 
from  our  present  advanced  point  of  view,  denoted  rather  an 
Inferior  than  a  superior  stage  of  Intellectual  development. 
The  fingers,  strings  of  beads,  knots  In  cords,  notches  iq 


146      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

sticks,  etc.,  etc.,  were  the  means  primitively  employed  in  com- 
putation ;  counting  was  a  motor  act,  an  act  of  sense,  and  not 
one  of  the  intellect;  the  results  were  the  actual  things  added 
or  subtracted,  and  not  symbols  representing  those  results. 
The  original  intellectual  advance,  therefore,  consisted  rather 
in  the  abolition  of  this  primitive  machinery  and  in  the  sub- 
stitution for  it  of  a  procedure  which  was  mainly  psychical 
and  mnemonic,  involving  a  mechanical  knowledge  of  the 
simple  combinations  of  numbers,  of  the  multiplication  table, 
and  of  the  use  of  pencil  and  paper." 

These  statements  throw  much  light  upon  the  problem  as 
discussed  in  this  chapter.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  mathe- 
matical philosopher,  indeed,  these  objective  helps  denote  in- 
ferior intellectual  development.  But  the  child  below  twelve 
is  still  in  the  primitive  mental  stage,  and  the  rationalization 
and  abstraction  of  number  cannot  advantageously  be  forced 
before  its  time. 

Hodge,  in  his  study  of  the  homing  of  pigeons,  was  led  to 
investigate  the  natural  logic  of  search.  Believing  that  those 
animals  survive  who  have  developed  the  most  exhaustive 
methods  of  searching  a  given  area  for  food,  he  sought  to 
discover  how  nearly  the  procedure  of  carrier  pigeons  ap- 
proximates the  ideal.  For  comparative  determinations  he 
devised  the  following  experiment  which  was  chiefly  tried  by 
children  and  adults.  A  ball  is  so  hidden  in  a  square  field 
that  it  can  be  seen  when  the  observer  is  20  feet  distant.  From 
the  stake  at  the  center  as  a  starting  point,  what  is  the  best 
method  of  finding  the  ball  ?  The  mathematically  best  method 
is  a  path  of  spiral  shape,  the  distance  between  the  lines  being 
40  feet.  This  involves  practically  no  researchings.  Another 
logical  method  is  that  of  a  series  of  straight  paths  gridironing 
the  field  in  a  way.  This  involves  the  searching  of  some  areas 
a  second  time.  There  are  simpler  logical  methods,  but  they 
need  not  be  mentioned.  As  to  results,  most  of  the  adults  ap- 
proximated very  nearly  the  theoretical  curve.  A  boy  of 
twelve,  however,  starts  for  the  fence,  follows  it  for  some 
distance,  then  turning  in,  discovers  the  ball  by  accident.  His 
curve  is  somewhat  logical  but  naturally  of  a  lower  degree 
than  those  of  adults.    Tests  of  a  number  of  children  vary- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       147 

ing  in  age  from  3  to  12  show  surprisingly  little  logic.  The 
tracings  of  a  bright  six-year-old  girl  resembled  the  tracings 
of  Lubbock's  ants,  revealing  scarcely  a  trace  of  system,  and 
were  full  of  researchings  of  areas  already  searched  time  and 
again.  After  75  minutes,  she  still  failed  to  find  the  ball 
which  adults  discovered  in  from  4  to  12  minutes. 

When  the  time  comes  that  the  faculty  of  true  reason- 
ing and  abstract  thinking  arises,  then  the  children  will  take 
great  pleasure  in  wrestling  with  these  problems.  At  this 
time,  the  pubescent  period,  intense  work  ought  to  be  done, 
and  the  scientific  aspects  of  geometry  and  algebra  may  be 
introduced,  and  mathematical  laws  formulated.  Some  sexual 
differentiation  will  have  to  be  considered  in  accordance  with 
the  suggestions  recorded  elsewhere. 

But  before  that  time,  it  should  be  repeated,  the  children 
have  very  little  appreciation  of  law  and  abstraction. 

It  is  not  merely  for  its  intellectual  value  that  mathematics 
deserves  a  high  place  in  the  curriculum  of  the  school,  pro- 
vided it  is  taught  with  an  understanding  of  child  nature; 
but  also  for  its  ethical  significance.  Mathematics  involves 
precise  cognition;  it  makes,  as  Pestalozzi  expressed  it,  for 
truth.  The  recognition  of  truth,  as  scientifically  distinct 
from  error  and  tentative  conjecture,  grows  slowly  in  the 
young  mind.  First  it  is  approached  thru  doing  and  trying 
concrete  things;  this  is  the  stage  of  crude  empiricism,  which 
is  half  unconscious  and  automatically  intuitive.  It  is  de- 
pendent uj)on  an  early  training  in  right  life  habits.  This 
non-reasoning  period  is  largely  furnishing  the  degree  of  fa- 
cility which  is  the  prerequisite  of  successful  handling  of  the 
material  when  the  rational  period  sets  in.  In  the  rational 
stage,  truth  is  recognized  to  be  a  matter  of  law  and  order,  of 
causative  sequence,  of  patient  toil,  of  a  surrender  of  personal 
idiosyncrasies.  Paradoxically  it  may  be  said  that  while  the 
child  is  in  the  objective  stage,  truth  is  subjective  to  him,  a 
matter  of  personal  equation ;  after  outgrowing  the  primitive 
stage,  and  objective  cogs;  after  evolving  his  truly  human 
personality;  he  recognizes  that  truth  is  not  subjective,  but  ob- 
jective, the  same  for  all.  And  this  development  from  con- 
crete empiricism  to  reason  marks  a  decided  ethical  gain. 


CHAPTER  IX 

Geography  as  a  Collective  Center 

GEOGRAPHY,  as  a  description  of  the  earth, 
includes  natural  history.  As  a  science,  geogra- 
phy includes  natural  science.  Considered  from 
the  standpoint  of  evolution,  it  embraces  the  his- 
tory of  the  earth:  geology,  mineralogy,  and  the 
origin  and  development  of  life,  up  to  man.  Thus  it  com- 
prises biology  and  history. 

As  physiography,  it  helps  to  explain  historical  events  in 
their  causality.  For  the  earth  is  the  habitation  of  man,  and 
man's  life  is  conditioned  in  a  great  measure  by  the  configu- 
ration of  land  and  sea,  and  by  the  products  of  both,  by  cli- 
mate, etc. 

These  conditions  change.  Physiographic  changes  throw 
light  upon  events  which  would  otherwise  be  unintelligible  to 
us.  Thermopylae  is  now  no  longer  the  narrow  pass  be- 
tween mountain  and  sea  that  it  was  at  the  time  of  the  heroic 
struggle  of  the  Spartans  under  Leonidas,  and  we  could  not 
understand  that  event  had  we  no  knowledge  of  the  physio- 
graphic history  of  the  location;  and  Ostia,  at  the  present 
time  an  inland  town,  can  no  longer  be  recognized  as  the  one 
time  "mouth"  (ostium)  of  the  Tiber. 

Geography  further  relates  to  the  earth  as  a  unit  in  space; 
to  the  universe  of  which  it  is  a  part :  this  leads  to  astronomy. 

Astronomy  depends  upon  mathematics;  in  fact  it  repre- 
sents the  greatest  triumph  of  mathematics.  The  terms  longi- 
tude and  time  introduce  mathematical  geography.  Geometry 
is  the  science  of  measuring  the  earth;  it  is  the  science  of 
distance  relations;  it  mediates  the  conception  of  space,  and 

148 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       149 

of  form  in  space.  Earth  measuring,  again,  is  conditioned 
by  a  knowledge  of  the  points  of  the  compass ;  this  introduces 
the  study  of  magnetism  and  electricity.  The  study  of  the 
seasons,  of  climate,  of  isotherms,  etc.,  opens  up  the  science 
of  meteorology. 

Geography  thus  proves  its  claim  to  be  considered  as  a 
collective  center  of  study;  in  its  complete  sense  it  is  compre- 
hensive and  full  of  diversified  stimulations  of  interest. 

Geography  study  depends  on  the  sense  of  cause  and  effect, 
and  the  sense  of  space.  Both  develop  slowly  in  the  child. 
"Alice  in  Wonderland"  and  "Thru  the  Looking  Glass" 
illustrate  fitly  the  wild  guesses  and  beliefs  as  to  possible 
locations  and  conditions  characteristic  of  the  child.  His 
imaginary  world  is  not  hedged  in  by  space  limitations.  He 
is  living  in  a  fairy  land  where  cause  and  effect  have  no  log- 
ical coherence,  and  where  the  impossible  is  possible.  He  sees 
no  objection  to  big  things  being  enclosed  in  small  compass, 
e.  g.  a  spacious  palace  in  what  is  outside  but  a  small,  low 
hut;  or  to  little  things  extending  over  vast  space,  as  Hop 
o'  my  Thumb  in  his  Seven  Miles  Boots.  We,  as  adults,  may 
discover  a  wonderful  symbolism  in  these  tales;  the  child 
takes  them  as  reality. 

Again  when  confronted  with  the  reality  of  things,  his  limit 
seems  soon  to  be  reached.  As  the  train  stopped  at  Thornton 
on  the  first  railroad  excursion  of  the  Chicago  Vacation 
Schools,  one  little  miss  whose  ideas  of  the  geography  and  the 
size  of  America  were  swnewhat  hazy,  whispered  in  awe- 
struck voice  to  the  teacher:  "Is  this  still  the  United 
States?" 

What  a  change  cMnes  over  us  when  we  grow  older  in 
regard  to  our  conception  of  space,  is  evident  from  the  well- 
known  observation  that  things  which  looked  very  big  to  us 
when  we  were  small,  now  seem  surprisingly  insignificant. 

In  building  up  geographical  concepts,  we  must  consider 
and  establish  the  proper  apperceptive  basis.  It  will  not  be 
amiss  to  repeat  here  what  was  said  in  a  previous  chapter:* 

"From  the  concrete  material  in  the  immediate  environment 

♦Page  84. 


150      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

of  the  child,  from  the  images  of  his  own  house  and  lawn,  the 
trees,  hills,  rocks,  valleys,  creeks,  rivers,  ponds,  etc. ;  of  peo- 
ple he  knows  and  occupations  he  sees  carried  on;  of  natural 
processes  like  water  running  down  his  own  hill,  of  dirt 
washed  down  the  watersheds  of  his  own  road,  of  toy  boats 
floating  in  his  gutter,  etc.,  etc.,  from  all  this  he  must  learn 
to  construct  in  his  mind  concepts  of  things  remote,  of  the 
Himalayas,  the  oceans,  foreign  people,  and  all  the  wonder- 
ful things  that  make  up  the  life  of  nature  and  man.  Words, 
names,  pictures,  samples  of  material  even,  maps,  and  the  like, 
are  nothing  but  symbols,  meaningless  to  him  unless  he  can 
connect  them  with  real  experiences  of  his  own." 

Too  much  reliance  upon  maps,  pictures,  or  descriptions, 
from  geographies,  or  by  word  of  mouth,  is  therefore  unwise. 
There  must  first  be  observation  and  experiment  to  furnish 
the  concrete  basis. 

Opportunity  for  these,  as  far  as  the  school  can  afford  it, 
will  be  rendered  by  systematically  organized  excursions,  the 
proper  use  of  the  sandtable,  and  later  the  laboratory.  As 
soon  as  possible,  observations  should  be  carefully  recorded. 
Home  geography  is  the  natural  starting  point;  and  we  must 
confine  ourselves  to  concrete  experiences  for  a  long  while 
before  venturing  out  on  the  making  of  inferences. 

All  sorts  of  illustrative  material  are  welcome  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  objective  work:  collections  of  flowers,  animals, 
and  birds,  shells,  pictures,  dressed  dolls,  etc.  The  making 
of  illustrative  work,  the  building  up  of  scenery  and  physio- 
graphic configuration  on  the  sandtable,  leading  up  to  as- 
sembled work  as  described  in  Chapter  VH,  will  be  of  partic- 
ular and  concrete  reality. 

Maps  should  first  be  developed  by  the  children  from  ex- 
perience. Their  walks  can  be  illustrated  and  reproduced 
on  the  sandtable,  with  buildings  put  in  of  wood  and  card- 
board. The  sandtable  reproduction  may  then  serve  as  the  start- 
ing point  for  map  making  and  map  reading.  In  order  to  take 
but  one  step  at  a  time  and  not  produce  the  illusion  that  north 
is  invariably  at  the  top,  it  will  be  well  to  present  the  first 
maps  on  the  horizontal  plane,  in  exact  agreement  with  the 
natural  directions,  and  then  proceed  to  vertical  maps  which 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       151 

should  be  hung  in  very  different  positions.  How  diffiailt  it 
is  for  an  ordinary  mortal  who  had  been  taught  geography  prin- 
cipally from  maps  placed  before  him  in  the  traditional  posi- 
tion, to  recognize  a  country  when  there  is  any  deviation  from 
this  position,  will  at  once  become  evident  as  soon  as  we  try 
to  recognize  bits  of  country  with  the  map  turned  aroimd  at 
a  greater  or  lesser  angle.  Such  difficulties  and  absurdities 
should  be  avoided  from  the  start. 

Let  us  not  abstract  too  early.  The  fact  that  a  child  knows 
what  a  ball  is  does  not  enable  him  to  understand  the  earth  to 
be  a  big  ball.  Yet,  the  globe  is  often  introduced  in  very 
young  grades,  and  recently  attempts  have  been  made,  even 
by  persons  bearing  illustrious  names,  to  teach  to  the  babes 
of  the  kindergarten  the  celestial  movements  by  symbolic 
games.  The  effect  of  such  premature  abstractions,  no  matter 
how  much  we  try  to  symbolize,  is  largely  illusory.  An  ex- 
periment was  undertaken  in  the  second  grade  of  the  Ethical 
Culture  Schools  some  years  ago  to  test  the  conceptions  of  the 
children  in  regard  to  matters  of  this  sort.  They  were  taught 
the  form  of  the  earth  to  be  round  like  a  ball ;  each  child 
had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  and  handling  a  large  globe; 
and  every  effort  was  made,  in  traditional  fashion,  to  develop 
the  idea.  They  seemed  to  grasp  it  and  talked  glibly  about  it. 
A  little  while  later,  apparently  without  connection  with  the 
geography  lesson,  they  were  requested  to  write  out  their 
conception  of  the  earth,  and  what  would  happen  if  they 
would  set  out  to  travel  from  New  York  as  far  as  they 
could.  The  surprise  of  the  teacher  who  imagined  that  she  had 
successfully  developed  the  idea  of  the  earth's  roundness,  was 
complete.  For  a  large  number  of  the  children  gave  descrip- 
tions and  expressed  conceptions  very  suggestive  of  primitive 
notions.  They  would  come  to  the  end  of  the  earth  and 
fall  off,  or  not  get  any  farther,  etc.,  etc.  As  the  papers 
were  not  preserved  I  cannot  give  actual  quotations  or  sub- 
mit statistics;  but  the  experiment  showed  that  what  the 
children  had  seemingly  learned  and  mastered  was  a  con- 
glomeration of  words  and  symbols,  without  much  real  sig- 
nificance to  them.  They  were  not  mature  enough  to  grasp 
the  abstraction,  and  when  properly  tested  they  proved  that 


152      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

they  were  still  intellectually  on  the  level  of  primitive  cul- 
ture. 

As  the  earth  is  of  interest  to  us  mainly,  yea  almost  exclu- 
sively, because  it  is  the  abode  of  man,  there  must  be  a  con- 
stant reference  to  man's  development  on  earth,  in  other 
w^ords,  a  close  interrelation  with  history. 

In  venturing  to  outline  a  course  in  geography,  the  author 
wishes  merely  to  present  some  suggestive  details,  also  indi- 
cating, in  a  general  way,  the  succession  of  topics. 

FIRST  grade: 

Observe  the  sun  in  morning  and  afternoon.  Points  of 
compass  developed :  first  east  and  west,  then  north  and  south. 
Mark  walls  with  points  of  compass.  Direction  of  wind. 
Weather  charts. 

Read  typical  expressions  and  terms,  such  as  the  points  of 
the  compass,  or  words  like  "fair",  "cloudy",  etc.,  from  the 
blackboard.  Construction  of  same  words  with  cardboard 
letters  or  other  devices.  Later  in  course,  typesetting  may  be 
introduced. 

Days  of  the  week;  count  weeks;  then  introduce  month, 
and  names  of  months;  count  days  in  month;  date.  (Naming 
and  counting  periods.) 

On  level  surface  (work  table),  outline  with  blocks 
schoolroom  from  measurements,  foot  reduced  to  inch  (idea 
of  scale) ;  count  tables  and  chairs,  mark  their  position  by 
using  blocks  (cubes  of  Fifth  Gift,  and  multiples). 

Then  mark  same  on  sandtable,  with  lines  scratched  in. 
This  is  the  second  step  towards  symbolic  representation. 

Then  draw  same,  with  coarse  pencil,  on  a  level  sheet  of 
manila  paper  (inch  net,  or  rule;  always  same  scale) :  third 
step. 

The  fourth  step  is  reached  when  the  map  is  reproduced  on 
the  black  board,  with  the  help  of  ruler  at  first.  This  marks 
transition  from  horizontal  to  vertical  plane,  or  map.  Dif- 
ferent positions  of  the  map  on  board.  Introduction  of  draw- 
ing distances,  or  lengths,  by  sight. 

Study  direction  of  street;  mark  it  on  sandtable,  following 
natural  direction.     Indicate  schoolhouse   by  block,   or   by 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       153 

building  cardboard  house. 

Develop  idea  of  square  (block)  of  houses  and  cross  streets. 
Way  home  and  to  school:  count  number  of  blocks;  names 
of  streets  in  neighborhood.  Reading  and  setting  of  these 
names,  as  well  as  of  previously  learned  names.  Reproduce 
location  on  sandtables  or  worktable  with  blocks.  Rough 
drawing  on  manila  sheet. 

Walks  thru  the  city;  discussion  of  reminiscences.  Repro- 
duction of  locations  remembered  (squares,  parks,  fountains, 
music-stands,  public  buildings,  etc.)  on  sandtable,  with 
blocks,  clay-models,  cut-out  figures,  and  the  like. 

Building-blocks  for  fancy  reproductions  and  free  play; 
then  introduction  of  architectural  ideas. 

Modern  buildings  and  primitive  dwellings.  Constructions 
in  school  yard.     Connection  with  history  and  literature. 

Paper-cutting  of  familiar  objects,  scenes,  events,  etc. 

Watch  domestic  animals,  common  birds,  simple  wild  and 
garden  flowers,  and  note  location,  migration,  and  conditions 
of  life.     Seasons. 

The  lands  of  winter,  summer,  spring,  fall,  in  myths  and 
fairy  tales. 

Principal  types  of  men:  white,  black,  red,  brown,  yellow. 

SECOND  grade: 

Same  things  observed  and  discussed  on  a  higher  plane. 

From  home  to  school. 

In  clay,  home  and  schoolhouse.     Paper-cutting  of  same. 

General  idea  and  plan  of  city  and  environment  (not  too 
many  details  of  streets,  etc.!),  on  sandtable,  with  representa- 
tion of  rivers,  hills,  principal  buildings,  etc. 

Relief  maps  in  sand,  of  ranges  of  hills,  etc. 

Special  scenes  represented:  public  parks,  squares,  mills, 
ponds,  waterworks,  and  the  like. 

Observe  "that  the  rills  flowing  in  wheel-ruts  widen  them 
and  carry  the  washings  to  the  nearest  mud-puddle."  Watch 
rivers  and  brooks  in  spring;  observe  the  current.  Idea  of 
elevation  and  watershed ;  movement  of  the  water ;  hills  and 
valleys. 

Observe  rain  and  clouds;  thunderstorms,  hail. 


154      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

In  winter,  lessons,  with  experiments,  on  water,  ice,  snow. 

In  summer,  the  same  on  air  (balloon,  etc.)- 

Protection  from  weather.  Idea  of  home-building:  nests, 
huts,  tents  (make  same).  Furnish  doll's  house.  Miniature 
carpentry.      (Cf.  manual  training  course.) 

Roads;  railroads.  Idea  of  distance,  and  of  distant  settle- 
ments. 

Sunrise  and  sunset;  motion  of  stars  at  night.    Directions. 

Creation  myths  (cf.  subsequent  chapter).  Gradual  prep- 
aration for  idea  of  globe  in  space. 

THIRD  grade: 

Watching  ships  on  ocean  and  lake;  or,  moving  trains, 
wagons,  etc.,  on  plains.  Story  of  Columbus.  Large  globe 
to  experiment  with. 

"Little  Lucy's  Wonderful  Globe."  "The  Seven  Little 
Sisters."     "Aunt  Martha's  Corner  Cupboard." 

Concentration  on  reading  and  writing. — 

Sun,  moon,  stars;  constellations. 

Some  nature  study,  on  common  things,  perhaps  in  connec- 
tion with  last  book  mentioned  above;  Horace  H.  Cummings' 
"Nature  Study  by  Grades"  is  well  adapted  to  connect  geo- 
graphy and  nature  in  this  and  in  other  classes. 

Travel.     Robinson  Crusoe.     Typical  occupations. 

Build  house  and  barn;  make  doll's  house  for  Second 
Grade.  Figure  out  material  necessary  for  this  work.  Com- 
bination of  wood-work  (sawing  and  knife),  parquetry,  paper 
cutting,  and  pasting. 

Miniature  carpentry:  garden  tools,  fence,  hay-wagon,  etc 
Model  animals  and  dolls  to  represent  various  scenes. 

FOURTH  grade: 

Excursions  thru  city  and  surrounding  country  on  different 
kinds  of  vehicles  of  transportation,  to  get  empiric  notions 
of  travel,  of  life  conditions,  interesting  places,  centres  of 
trade  within  the  limit  of  observations,  manufacture,  farming, 
public  institutions,  etc.  Apperceptive  basis  for  following 
work: 

Imaginary  work :    Roaming  thru  the  world. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       155 

(a)  Noted  cities  and  buildings,  bridges,  etc.,  showing 
man's  conquest  of  nature; 

(b)  Nature's  beauties  (cataracts,  mountains,  rivers,  etc.). 

(c)  Inventions — from  the  potter's  wheel  and  the  primi- 
tive loom  to  modem  machines  (sewing  machines,  mariner's 
compass,  steamboats,  railroads,  electric  cars,  electric  light, 
telephone  and  telegraph,  automobiles,  flying  machines.) 

Idea  of  commerce  and  communication. 

Biographies  of  the  inventors  will  '"humanize"  this  work. 

Bits  of  history  from  all  lands. 

FIFTH  grade: 

Summary  of  early  experiences. 

Study  of  the  heavens  and  the  simple  facts  of  astronomy. 
Seasons,  weather,  climate. 

Concentration  upon  geography  of  North  America. 

Survey  of  South  America.  Map  modeling  and  drawing. 
Shaded  maps  in  color.    The  vertical  and  horizontal  planes. 

SIXTH  grade: 

( 1 )  The  Mediterranean  Basin  and  the  Nile  Valley,  as  the 
scenes  of  early  civilization. 

(2)  Progress  of  geographical  knowledge. 

(3)  The  globe. 

(4)  Beginning  of  mathematical   geography. 

SEVENTH  grade: 

Intense  work. 

Migration  of  people.  Study  of  Europe.  In  connection 
with  Crusades  and  Discoveries,  geography  of  the  countries 
concerned. 

Commercial  geography;  ideas  of  food,  clothing,  shelter; 
manufacturing;  export  and  import.  The  great  staples. 
This  to  be  continued  in  Eighth. 

Distribution  of  flora  and  fauna. 

Physiography;  geology;  minerology.  Experiments.  Math- 
ematical geography. 

EIGHTH  grade: 

Detailed  study  of  the  United  States. 


156      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

The  bird's  eye  view  of  the  earth  and  the  world  as  the 
home  of  man,  taken  in  the  previous  grades  and  summed  up 
in  the  highest,  leads  up  to  a  particularized  reference  to  the 
mother  country.  The  aim  here  should  be  to  imbue  the  pupil 
with  a  clear  view  of  its  proportional  significance  in  the 
sum  total  of  human  interests,  and  also  to  develop  true 
patriotism,  and  love  of  country,  as  distinct  from  what  has 
been  called  chauvenism  and  Jingoism. 

"Breathes  there  a  man  with  soul  so  dead, 
Who  never  to  himself  hath  said, 
This  is  my  own,  my  native  land! 
Whose  heart  hath  ne'er  within  him  bum'd. 
As  home  his  footsteps  he  hath  turned, 
From  wandering  on  a  foreign  strand !" 

(Scott,  "Lady  of  the  Last  Minstrel"). 

And  few  countries  are  so  favored  as  ours,  appeal  so  much 
to  the  sense  of  just  appreciation  of  her  unusual  advantages 
and  glories.  Here,  the  destiny  of  the  race  seems  to  be  ful- 
filled; here  the  representatives  of  all  civilized  nations  of  the 
world  are  meeting  on  common  ground,  to  evolve,  in  the  form 
of  a  new  nation,  the  ideal  of  humanity,  by  each  offering  its 
best,  all  blending  together,  and  adjusting  themselves  to  a 
common  aim. 

"O  beautiful  and  grand 
My  own,  my  native  land! 

Of  thee  I  boast: 
Great  Empire  of  the  West, 
The  dearest  and  the  best. 
Made  up  of  all  the  rest, 

I  love  thee  most!" 

(Abraham  Coles). 


T 


CHAPTER  X 

History  as  a  Collective  Center 
HIS  passage  is  from  G.  Ebers'  "The  Sisters": 

"Behold,  the- puny  Child  of  Man 
Sits  by  Time's  boundless  sea, 

And  gathers  in  his  feeble  hand 
Drops  of  Eternity. 

"He  overhears  some  broken  words 

Of  whispered  mystery — 
He  writes  them  in  a  tiny  book 

And  calls  it  'History'! 

"We  owe  these  verses  to  an  accomplished  friend ;  another 
has  amplified  the  idea  by  adding  the  two  that  follow : 

"If  indeed  the  puny  Child  of  Man 
Had  not  gathered  drops  from  that  wide  sea. 

Those  small  deeds  that  fill  his  little  span, 
Had  been  lost  in  dumb  Eternity. 

"Feeble  is  his  hand,  and  yet  it  dare 
Seize  some  drops  of  that  perennial  stream ; 

As  they  fall  they  catch  a  transient  gleam — 
Lo!     Eternity  is  mirrored  there!" 

It  is  well  that  we  should,  at  the  outset,  fix  this  thought 
in  our  minds.  No  other  study  relates  the  human  soul  so 
closely  to  the  eternal  powers  that  make  for  perfection  an4 


158       THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

righteousness,  as  does  history.  It  reveals  to  us  the  laws 
which  govern  human  existence,  and  each  event  is  a  link  in  a 
grand  evolutionary  chain  leading  up  to  the  ideal.  History 
discloses  to  us  the  sequence  of  human  ideals  of  perfection  as 
they  unfolded  themselves  in  the  mind  of  man  from  crude 
beginnings  when  he  but  dimly  discerned  the  force  that  urged 
him  along  the  arduous  road  of  progress,  down  to  our  own 
times  when  we  imagine  to  understand  better  than  ever  before 
these  divine  promptings. 

"After  death,"  says  Sadie  E.  Simons,  in  Educational  Value 
of  Biography,  "the  great  man  of  the  tribe  is  idealized,  and 
with  the  passing  of  years  he  develops  into  the  type  admired 
by  the  particular  people  among  whom  he  once  lived.  This 
type  in  the  course  of  centuries  becomes  farther  and  farther 
removed  from  its  source,  until  we  can  scarcely  discover  its 
origin.  Who  is  Arthur,  Siegfried,  or  Roland  but  the  ideal 
man  of  his  respective  age  and  land?"     (Educ.  Review,  Jan., 

1899.) 

Each  epoch  in  human  evolution  is  characterized  by  the 
ideal  types  of  manhood  which  it  matured,  either  in  actuality 
or  as  a  spiritual  goal.  Man  as  a  national  chief  or  a  tribal 
god,  as  a  citizen  in  a  democracy  or  leader  in  the  struggle  for 
advance  and  greatness,  man  as  a  spiritual  hero  and  teacher 
of  better  things — man  in  all  his  various  phases  of  active  liv- 
ing, stands  out  from  the  pages  of  history  and  teaches  the 
lesson  that  uplifts,  and  fills  our  hearts  with  courage  and 
hope.  The  lesson  of  history  is  concentrated  and  sublimated 
in  the  study  of  civics  and  ethics  which  open  up  a  future  of 
greater  perfection  and  beatitude,  when  man  will  carry  the 
banner  of  civilization  to  still  loftier  heights,  "that  banner 
with  the  strange  device:  Excelsior!" 

Human  development  is  conditioned  by  natural  laws.  Szys 
the  geographer  Redway:* 

"At  some  time  in  the  near  future  the  teacher  of  history 
will  doubtless  discover  what  the  critical  student  of  history 
has  already  made  the  basis  of  study,  namely:  that  history  is 
nothing  more  than  an  echo  of  the  operation  of  geographical 


*Educ  Rev.,  November,  1894. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       159 

laws;  that  humankind  as  well  as  other  organic  life  is  a  slave 
to  hunger;  that  all  migrations  and  dispersions  of  peoples  are 
merely  quantitative  expressions  of  moisture  and  temperature ; 
and  the  nationalism  of  government  is  merely  a  machinery  for 
the  rapid  and  equitable  distribution  of  food.  These  are  not 
only  fundamental  principles  of  history,  but  they  are  none  the 
less  principles  of  physiographic  science  as  well." 

Thus  the  interrelation  of  history  with  geography,  with  the 
distribution  of  the  flora  and  fauna,  with  the  climatic  condi- 
tions, as  well  as  on  the  other  hand  with  literature,  civics 
and  ethics  in  which  the  ideals  of  successive  periods  have  found 
their  expression,  is  clearly  seen. 

The  interest  in  history  dates  back  to  the  time  when  man 
became  conscious  of  himself.  Ancestor  worship  marks  the 
beginnings  of  history  no  less  than  of  religion.  Tribal  and 
national  heroes  became  gods,  and  shared  with  the  forces  of 
nature  the  first  stammering  reverence  of  pristine  peoples. 
The  bards  who  sang  the  deeds  of  heroes  and  gods  were  not 
only  the  first  poets,  but  also  the  first  historians;  the  rude  in- 
scriptions on  tombs  and  rocks  were  the  first  records. 

But  the  true  historic  sense  was  slow  of  growth.  Fear  and 
fancy  composed  the  first  records;  credulity  and  superstition 
brought  forth  innumerable  fabulations.  Thru  legend  and 
myth,  the  human  mind  rose  in  a  long  struggle  with  its  own 
misconceptions  to  a  sense  for  certainty  and  truth.  The 
notions  of  time  and  space  evolved  but  gradually  to  distinct- 
ness and  scientific  accuracy. 

Hazy  as  the  ideas  of  primitive  man  were,  so  are  the 
child's. 

"Children  appear  to  have  very  vague  ideas  about  the  past. 
On  the  one  hand,  as  in  the  case  of  their  measurements  of 
space,  their  standard  of  time  is  not  ours;  an  hour,  say  the 
first  morning  at  school,  may  seem  an  eternity  to  a  child's 
consciousness.  The  days,  the  months,  the  years,  seem  to  fly 
faster  and  faster  as  we  get  older.  On  the  other  hand,  as  in 
the  case  of  space  judgment,  too,  the  child,  thru  his  inability 
to  represent  time,  on  a  large  scale,  is  apt  to  bring  the  past 
too  near  the  present.  Mothers  and  young  teachers  would 
be  surprised  if  they  knew  how  children  interpreted  their  first 


i6o      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

historical  instruction  introduced  by  the  common  phrase: 
'Many  years  ago,'  or  similar  expressions".  (James  Sully, 
"Studies  of  Childhood") 

In  a  delightful  little  story,  apparently  a  fond  father's  con- 
fession, "W.  v.— Her  Violets",  By  Wm.  Canton,  (Mc- 
Clures,  August,  1897)  we  read: 

"As  we  wander  along  I  think  of  all  the  change  which  has 
taken  place  since  last  I  recorded  our  birthday  rambles  in  the 
Forest.  It  is  only  a  year  ago,  and  yet  how  amazingly  W.  V. 
has  grown  in  a  twelve-month!  Even  to  her  the  Forest  is 
no  longer  quite  the  same  vague  enchanted  region  it  used  to 
be.  Strange  people  have  started  up  out  of  history  and  in- 
vaded its  green  solitude;  on  the  outskirts  'ancient  Britons', 
tattoed  with  blue  woad,  have  made  clearings  and  sown  corn, 
and  'old  Romans'  have  run  a  long  straight  'street'  thru 
one  portion  of  it.  There  still  lingers  in  her  heart  a  coy 
belief  in  little  green  plaid  oak-men,  and  flower-elves,  and 
subtle  sylvan  creatures  of  fancy;  indeed,  it  was  only  the  other 
day  that  she  asked  me,  'How  does  the  sun  keep  up  in  the 
sky?  Is  it  hanging  on  a  fairy  tree?'  but  I  notice  a  growing 
impatience  at  sham  stories  and  a  preference  for  what  has 
really  happened, — 'something  about  the  Romans  or  the 
Danes  or  the  Saxons  or  Jesus.'  When  I  begin  some  wonder- 
ful saga,  she  looks  up  alertly,  'True'? — then  settles  down  to 
her  enjoyment.     .     .     . 

"In  spite  of  her  devotion  to  history  and  love  of  truth,  I 
fear  W.  V.  cannot  be  counted  on  for  accuracy.  What  am  I 
to  say  when,  in  a  rattle-pate  mood,  she  tells  me  that  not  only 
Julius  Caesar  but  Oliver  Cromwell  was  lost  on  board  the 
'White  Ship', — like  needles  in  a  haystack  ?  Her  perception  of 
the  lapse  of  time  and  the  remoteness  of  events  is  altogether 
untrustworthy.  .  .  .  It  is  incomprehensible  to  her  that 
'everyone'  should  have  died  so  long  ago.  She  does  not  un- 
derstand how  it  happens  that  even  I,  venerable  as  I  am,  did 
not  know  the  Druids,  or  the  Saxons,  or  any  of  those  'old 
Romans'.  'You  are  very  old,  aren't  you,  father? — thirty- 
four?'  'I  am  more  than  thirty-five,  dear.'  'That  is  a  lot 
older  than  me,'  somewhat  dubiously.  'Nearly  six  times.  .  .'  " 

The  question  now  arises,  what  is  the  true  historic  sense? 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       i6i 

Mrs.  Mary  Sheldon  Barnes  has  attempted  to  answer  this 
question.  Says  she:  ("The  Historic  Sense  among  Primi- 
tive Peoples,"  Studies  in  Education,  i.) : 

"The  historic  sense  can  be  separated  into  certain  elements. 
It  is  bom  wherever  the  human  mind  attains  a  conception  of 
making  a  true  record  of  real  and  concerted  human  action, 
progressive  thru  time  and  connected  by  cause  and  effect. 
Take  the  Sagas  of  the  North,  Herodotus,  the  Books  of  the 
Kings,  Mommsen's  Rome, — take  anything  you  will  that  men 
call  history,  and  you  will  find  this  to  distinguish  it  from  myth 
as  history, — that  it  is  considered  as  true;  this  to  mark  it 
off  from  biography, — that  it  relates  to  groups  of  men;  this 
to  separate  it  from  sociology,  philosophy,  or  literature — that 
actions  are  its  theme,  and  these  actions  are  related  by  cause 
and  effect  acting  thru  continuous  time.  .  .  .  Thru  the 
historic  sense  humanity  becomes  self-conscious  and  self-di- 
recting.    .     .     . 

"To  sum  up:  First,  the  knowledge  which  we  call  history 
rests  upon  the  sense  of  cause  and  effect,  the  sense  of  the 
social  unit,  the  sense  of  time,  the  sense  of  the  value  of  a 
true  record.  These  all  appear  early  in  vague  forms,  as  in 
myths  of  origin,  and  all  advance  together,  now  this  idea,  now 
that,  leading,  but  no  one  idea  allowed  to  get  positively  ahead. 
Of  the  four,  the  idea  of  time  and  of  the  true  record  lag; 
and  yet  we  find  even  these  well  developed  among  peoples  as 
advanced  as  the  Polynesians.     .     .     ." 

In  a  similar  way  the  historic  sense  develops  in  the  chil- 
dren. Rarely  before  ten  occurs  a  change  from  belief  to  dis- 
belief in  superstitions,  and  begin  children  to  appreciate  im- 
possibilities. Up  to  12  their  interest  turns  from  fairy  tales 
to  stories  of  adventure  and  history.  But  not  before  12  is 
there  any  marked  tendency  to  search  into  the  relations  of 
cause  and  effect,  and  to  care  for  a  true  record. 

I  reproduce  here  some  paragraphs  from  Mrs.  Barnes' 
careful  study  of  the  parallelism  between  the  primitive  man 
and  the  child  in  relation  to  the  evolution  of  the  historic 
sense. 

"  ( I )  As  to  the  order  in  which  those  notions  appear  we  see 
that  among  savages  they  appear  altogether  in  the  rudimentary 


1 62       THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

form  of  the  myths  of  origin,  which,  on  placed  in  space, 
vaguely  placed  in  time,  attempt  to  give  some  true  account 
of  the  beginnings  of  man  and  of  the  world.  .  .  .  Among 
children  we  find  the  same  fact.  From  the  age  of  seven  on- 
ward we  find  them  inquiring  after  time,  cause  and  effect, 
the  social  unit,  and  the  truthful  record, — that  is,  all  the 
elements  lie  within  the  field  of  the  child's  curiosity;  and 
it  is  interesting  to  note  how  early  they  inquire  after  origin: 
Who  made  us?  Where  did  we  come  from?  The  plain 
conclusion  as  to  the  method  here  is  that  history  is  a  suitable 
subject  for  children  from  the  age  of  seven  at  least. 

"(2)  As  to  the  sense  of  time  we  see  that  this  sense  with 
savages  is  based  on  the  power  to  count,  and  the  power  to 
record  that  count  concretely,  either  with  the  fingers,  the 
notch  stick,  or  the  knotted  cord,  and  that  it  develops  along 
with  the  development  of  the  inventions  for  keeping  count; 
in  other  words  that  this  sense  requires  much  objective  assist- 
ance. With  children  we  have  seen  that  sense  seems  slight, 
and  that  time  is  badly  understood  until  the  age  of  twelve 
or  thirteen.  The  conclusion  as  to  the  method  is  that  the 
child  should  be  assisted,  as  the  savage  was,  by  some  concrete 
symbol  or  invention  by  which  he  can  keep  his  counts  in 
sight,  and  reckon  time  visibly. 

"(3)  As  to  the  notion  of  cause  and  effect,  or,  to  put  it 
differently,  the  power  to  infer,  we  see  that  both  with  sav- 
ages and  children  it  is  present  from  the  beginning,  but  that 
it  is  unconscious  with  primitive  peoples,  and  that  with  chil- 
dren the  power  does  not  become  at  all  critical  before  the  age 
of  twelve  or  thirteen,  and  that  it  seems  then  to  receive  a 
positive  impulse,  becoming  stronger  as  well  as  more  exact. 
The  conclusion  as  to  method  is  clear,  that  children  should 
not  be  especially  trained  or  urged  in  inference  until  the  ages 
of  twelve  or  thirteen,  and  that  then  we  may  reasonably  en- 
courage them  to  draw  independent  and  correct  conclusions 
from  given  premises. 

"  (4)  As  to  sense  of  the  social  unit,  we  have  seen  that  with 
primitive  peoples  the  sense  concentrates  itself  about  ancestors, 
heroes,  kings,  developing  into  a  sense  of  wider  personality 
as  their  history,  that  is,  their  experience  widens.    The  inter- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       163 

est  of  die  children  according  to  the  indication  follows  the 
same  order;  but,  since  education  partially  takes  the  place  of 
experience,  we  cannot  yet  say  positively  at  what  age  we  may 
develop  the  larger  interest;  at  present  we  may  say  not  be- 
fore the  age  of  1 1  or  12.  The  application  to  method  is  that 
history  should  first  interest  itself  with  the  biographies  of 
heroic  and  striking  characters  who  are  connected  with  the 
previous  knowledge  of  life  of  the  child.  .  .  .  They 
should  always  be  connected  with  that  life  of  action  which 
belongs  to  children  and  primitive  people  alike.  These  biog- 
raphies should  be  of  men  who  fight  and  hunt  and  build, 
rather  than  of  men  who  write  or  think  or  legislate.  John 
Smith  is  nearer  to  the  child  than  William  Bradford.    .    .    . 

"(5)  The  sense  of  a  truthful  record  seems  to  be  quite  pos- 
itive with  savages,  altho  it  does  not  occur  to  them  to  sub- 
stantiate that  truth  by  any  searching  criticism  of  evidence. 
Children,  too,  are  very  anxious  to  know  whether  a  record 
or  story  is  true  or  not  altho  they  are  largely  contented  with 
being  told  that  it  is  true  by  a  person  in  whom  they  have  faith, 
not  showing  a  tendency  to  inquire  critically  into  the  mat- 
ter until  the  ages  of  12  or  13.  .  .  .  (Even  the  inter- 
est in  "true  or  not"  is  not  present  in  the  very  young 
chUd.     G.). 

"(6)  As  to  the  forms  of  history  we  have  seen  that  critical 
history  develops  last  in  the  history  of  the  race,  being  pre- 
ceded by  beautiful  history,  moral  history,  and  mnemonic  his- 
tory, all  these  forms  running  along  contemporaneously.  With 
children  we  see  that  history  finds  natural  expression  in 
stories,  pictures,  dramatic  plays  and  poems,  with  or  without  a 
moral.  From  both  these  sets  of  facts  I  conclude  that  we 
should  seek  our  history  for  children  in  Plutarch,  Homer, 
and  Shakespeare,  before  seeking  it  in  edited  documents  with 
notes  and  criticisms  of  the  modem  school  of  history.  Nor 
must  we  forget  that  primitive  history  shows  a  large  mnemonic 
element,  appearing  in  lists  and  genealogies.  This  arises  from 
the  fact  that  memory  requires  an  artificial  cog,  and  these 
lists  and  genealogies  supply  the  place  of  the  earlier  knotted 
cord.  .  .  .  The  wide  employment  of  aesthetic  and  di- 
dactic forms  of  history  indicates  that  they  should  form  a 


1 64      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

large  element  in  the  early  presentation  of  our  subject.  On 
the  aesthetic  side,  Homer,  Ossian,  the  Nibelungenlied,  on  the 
didactic  side,  Plutarch  and  the  Bible,  give  us  plenty  of  ap- 
propriate material.  The  scientific  forms  must  wait  on  the  de- 
velopment of  material,  and  also  on  the  development  of  the 
critical  sense;  that  is,  until  the  ages  of  12  and  above." 

This  investigation  corroborates  the  contention  that  a 
course  in  history  teaching  must  follow  the  natural  stages  of 
the  child's  mental  evolution.  Even  in  the  development  of  the 
historic  sense,  children  pass  thru  the  successive  forms  of  con- 
sciousness of  the  race. 

Let  us  also  be  reminded  of  these  three  things: 

(i)  There  must  be  the  proper  apperceptive  basis,  begin- 
ning with  the  known  and  proceeding  to  the  unknown.  There 
should  be  the  proper  geographical  setting.  On  the  whole, 
a  going  backward  from  present  conditions  to  older  times,  by 
a  process  of  gradual  divestiture  of  the  later  accoutrements 
and  forms  of  civilization,  in  reverse  order  of  acquistion,  will 
commend  itself,  for  the  earlier  stages  of  history  teaching 
at  least. 

Illustrations  are,  in  this  work,  a  secondary  help;  direct 
observation  is  the  primary  requisite.  Typical  occupations 
should  be  studied,  again  beginning  with  the  present  form  and 
going  back  to  primitive  processes,  such  as  the  children  them- 
selves are  capable  of  testing  thru  personal  experience.  They 
may  be  made  to  use  a  simple  potter's  wheel,  or  loom,  to  study 
the  manipulations  which  led  up  to  modem  machines. 

(2)  There  must  be,  as  indicated  in  this  last  suggestion, 
expression  thru  motor  activity:  making,  drawing,  modeling. 

(3)  This  again  involves  the  principle  of  co-ordination. 
Further  there  should   be  no  narrowing  down   to  U.   S. 

History.  Children  must  be  initiated  to  the  universal  human 
interests,  to  gain  the  proper  background  and  perspective 
for  their  national  growth. 

Professor  Ellis  (quoted  before)  reminds  us  that  the  pe- 
riod from  7  to  1 1  is  "the  period  for  language  teaching.     . 

.  .  It  is  also  shown  that  during  this  period  the  verbal 
memory  is  good,  reaching  maximum  power  about  its  end, 
while  children  now  are  particularly  interested  in  names." 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      165 

Mrs.  Barnes  shows  that  the  "indicatiwis  are  at  present  that 
names  should  by  all  means  be  emphasized  in  our  early  his- 
torical work".  Biographical  stories,  first  mythological  and 
legendary,  or  of  the  fairy-tale  order,  then  approaching  his- 
torical truth,  should  be  oflFered  all  thru  the  elementary 
course.  There  are  ethical  truths,  poetical  truths,  typical 
truths,  to  precede  exact  historic  truths  so  that  in  the  latter 
the  former  may  be  recognized.  The  myth  of  Santa  Glaus, 
the  story  of  Siegfried,  or  of  Achilles,  the  legend  of  Odin  or 
Baldur,  contain  truths  of  the  former  order,  and  their  presen- 
tation will  pave  the  way  for  an  appreciation  of  the  scientific 
verities  of  religious,  social,  or  political  development,  in  the 
progress  of  civilization. 

Following  is  an  outline  of  the  course  as  it  suggests  itself  to 
the  author: 

In  the  Lower  Grades: 

Study  of  the  children's  immediate  environment  as  man's 
habitation.  How  the  city  or  village  grew  from  small  begin- 
nings; going,  as  suggested  before,  backwards  in  time,  to  pe- 
riods when  some  things  the  child  knows  and  perhaps  thinks 
are  as  natural  as  air  and  water,  were  not ;  early  history ;  In- 
dians, primitive  life,  types  and  races  of  men. 

Home-making  in  different  lands. 

The  hunter. 

The  nomad. 

The  planter. 

Compare  with  modem  types:  hunting,  camping,  farming. 

Interesting  stories,  centering  upon  individuals,  from  gen- 
eral history. 

Historical  poetry.  The  interest  of  primitive  peoples  and 
children  is  pre-eminently  epic,  not  lyric;  consequently  epic 
poetry,  ballads,  etc.,  are  most  appropriate  at  this  period. 

No  attempt  need  be  made  at  strict  chronological  order. 
The  children's  sense  of  time  is  undeveloped,  and  chronology 
has  little  or  no  meaning  to  them.  Group  the  work  around 
central  themes  of  ethical  import,  without  being  too  pedantic 
in  concentration.     Many  interesting  detached  bits  will  be 


1 66      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

gathered  up  at  this  time,  to  be  organized  later. 

National  holidays  and  heroes  can  be  taken  up  in  between, 
in  some  way,  as  there  is  no  logical  co-ordination  necessary, 
rather  a  co-ordination  of  interests,  and  a  following  up  of 
the  changes  of  emotional  states.  Care  must  be  taken  not  to 
expand  too  much.  Excursions  should  be  undertaken  to  his- 
torical points,  first  of  strictly  local  interest  (site  of  first 
house,  first  bridge,  etc)  then  in  the  nearer  and  farther  en- 
vironment. 

The  city  as  it  was,  and  as  it  grew  up,  may  be  built  up  on 
the  sandtable.  Local  biographies  and  stories  will  give  emo- 
tional color  to  the  work. 

Any  widening  of  the  geographical  horizon  leads  to  un- 
known fairy-lands  where  only  imagination,  more  or  less  ra- 
tional, can  guide.  First,  there  is  no  distinction  made  by  the 
child  between  the  possible  and  the  impossible.  He  takes  an 
intense  interest  in  the  wildest  fancies  which  satisfy  his  desire 
to  probe  into  all  possibilities  which  his  mind  can  construct. 
This  is  the  time  of  Alice's  Wonderland,  of  the  Arabian 
Nights,  of  Gulliver's  Travels.  The  child  will  revel  in 
legends,  myths,  and  fairy  tales.  Creation  myths  will  lead 
over  to  the  present  conception  of  the  earth  as  a  globe.  The 
stories  of  Columbus  and  Robinson  Crusoe  will  prove  help- 
ful in  this  connection. 

Then  there  are  these  topics  to  be  introduced:  travel,  and 
means  of  travel ;  sailing,  steamboats ;  wagons,  oxteams,  sleds, 
railroads.  Buildings  and  wonders  from  everywhere.  Con- 
stant reference  is  here  suggested  to  the  proposed  work  in 
geography  as  outlined  in  the  previous  chapter. 

The  topics  of  (a)  Inventions  (in  connection  with  manual 
occupations — potter's  wheel,  loom,  tools,  etc.)  and  (b)  the 
Domestication  of  Animals  (pet  animals  discussed)  will  lead 
to  a  clearer  perception  of  the  factors  in  the  gradual  growth 
of  civilization.  For  an  organization  of  this  knowledge  as 
to  space  and  time,  we  may  well  wait  until  a  later  period. 

In  the  Upper  Grades: 

At  about  eleven  when  the  true  historic  instinct  dawns, 
we  may  enter  into  the  colonial  development  of  our  own  coun- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       167 

try,  in  somewhat  more  chronological  order,  and  concentrate 
on  an  outline  course  in  American  history.  The  term  "out- 
line", however,  must  be  rightly  understood ;  it  does  not  mean 
a  skeleton,  or  an  abstraction,  but  a  brief  and  pregnant  presen- 
tation of  typical  events  and  leading  figures,  dramatically  and 
vividly  pictured. 

At  puberty  (vi  to  viii  grades),  the  awakening  soul  of 
the  child  strikes  out  on  new  paths.  This  is  the  colonizing, 
adventuresome,  conquering,  hero-worshipping,  leader-follow- 
ing, nation-making  period.  The  migratory  instinct  will 
manifest  itself  irresistibly  in  excursions,  campings,  and  a  gen- 
erally reckless  mode  of  life.  The  children  will  organize  into 
clubs  or  gangs,  as  the  case  may  be.  This  is  the  time  when 
we  should  develop  the  idea  of  government  and  organization. 

The  history  course  should  correspond  to  these  interests. 
The  nation-making  epochs  of  history,  and  the  great  men  of 
each,  may  be  studied  with  profit.  Take  up  the  Nile  Valley 
and  the  Mediterranean  Basin  as  scenes  of  early  civilization. 
These  are  some  of  the  topics  suggesting  themselves:  Rameses 
the  Great — King  Solomon — the  Trojan  War — Greek  and 
Roman  history  in  typical  selections — Cyrus — the  Migration 
of  Peoples — the  Vikings — Nibelungenlied — Siegfried  sagas 
— Knighthood  in  Medieval  Times — Hiawatha — Miles 
Standish — Bacon's  Rebellion.  This  list  illustrates  the  char- 
acter of  the  themes  that  can  now  be  taken  up,  to  correspond 
to  the  natural  interests  of  the  children  at  this  period,  partly 
in  cross-sections,  partly  in  chronological  order,  to  unfold  the 
great  panorama  of  nation  building. 

All  along  the  literature  of  every  epoch  should  be  con- 
nected with  the  history  work  in  concentric  circles,  up  to  the 
high  school.  This  may  be  supplemented  by  a  reading  of  the 
best  historic  novels  and  poetry,  such  as  Iliad  and  Odyssey, 
Nibelungenlied,  Sagas,  Bible,  Macaulay's  Lays  of  Ancient 
Rome,  Scott's,  Eber's,  Kingsley's  novels  and  stories,  Long- 
fellow's epics,  etc. 

In  conjunction  with  all  this,  the  study  of  languages — 
German,  French,  Latin,  later  Greek — and  their  literatures, 
will  exhibit  the  spirit  of  the  different  nations  as  it  reveals  it- 
self in  language,  and  will  enable  the  pupils  to  read  the  prin- 


1 68       THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

cipal  historic  documents,  or  typical  selections  from  them,  in 
the  original* 

In  the  VIII  grade,  the  work  in  history  may  be  rounded 
out  by  a  new  and  comprehensive  study  by  American  history, 
introducing  some  original  research,  using  perhaps  the  "Amer- 
ican History  Leaflets"  (edited  by  Albert  Bushnell  Hart  and 
Edward  Channing),  and  similar  material.  Then  there 
should  be  a  course  in  civil  government. 

Civil  government,  if  rightly  taught,  will  not  mean  merely 
a  presentation  of  so  many  facts  and  details,  but  the  awaken- 
ing of  the  right  ethical  principles  in  the  breasts  of  the  young, 
for  their  guidance  in  the  performance  of  their  duties  as  citi- 
zens and  human  beings.  Civics  and  ethics  are  intimately 
related  in  this  sense.  And  this  is  the  time  when,  in  the  souls 
of  the  children,  those  ideals  and  principles,  or  habits  of 
thought  and  attitude  are  forming  which  will  give  character 
and  tone  to  their  actions  in  after  life.  "The  universal  pos- 
session of  ideals,"  says  E.  G.  Lancaster,  in  Psychology  and 
Pedagogy  of  Adolescence,  "affords  an  excellent  opportunity 
for  the  educator.  There  are  different  stages.  The  period 
(of  adolescence)  is  one  when  command  should  give  place  to 
the  presentation  of  an  ideal,  and  an  ideal  adapted  to  the  age 
and  interest  of  the  youth.  In  early  adolescence  there  needs 
to  be  something  heroic  or  self-sacrificing  in  the  ideal.  .  ." 
for  now,  thru  the  very  forces  that  make  the  youth  long  for 
adventure  and  tests  of  courage,  thru  his  tendency  to  submit 
to  leadership,  his  aboriginal  selfish  instincts  take  a  turn 
towards  self-renunciation,  by  way  of  devorion  to  some  per- 
son or  cause,  towards  surrender  of  self  to  the  influence  of 
altruistic  motives  generally. 

History,  to  have  its  full  beneficial  effect  upon  character 
building,  must  be  so  presented  that  it  opens  up  a  perspective 
of  human  destiny  to  the  child,  and  that  it  have  an  ethical 
bearing  in  reference  to  the  problems  which  will  confront  him 
in  his  career  thru  life.  Referring  to  the  racial  struggles, 
especially  those  between  Europe  and  Asia,  which  seem  to  be 
drawing  near,  Prof.  Barrett  Wendell,  of  Harvard,  in  a  re- 
view of  Kipling's  works,  writes  as  follows:  "When  history, 
past  or  present,  takes  on  such  aspects  as  this,  human  afiFairs 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       169 

suddenly  assume  a  new,  startling,  bewildering  guise.  At 
comfortable  moments  we  are  accustomed  to  assume  that  men 
of  various  ability  control,  first  themselves,  then  one  another, 
and  finally  the  course  of  things  on  earth.  At  critical  mo- 
ments we  are  beginning  to  know  with  tragic  certainty  that 
men,  like  other  earthly  things,  are  to  an  incalculable  degree 
the  sentient  victims  of  forces,  or,  if  you  prefer,  of  powers 
utterly  beyond  human  control.  .  .  .  This  struggle  of 
ours  is  with  the  rising  tide  of  an  oceanic  eternity." 

Indeed  we  are  in  the  hands  of  powers  which  we  cannot 
control.  Call  these  powers  natural  laws,  call  them  God, 
call  them  with  any  exalted  name  you  will,  they  are  real  and 
ever-present.  Thus,  the  realization  of  human  destiny  in  all 
its  awe-inspiring  mysteriousness  dawns  upon  us.  "Lo! 
Eternity  is  mirrored  there!"  This  lesson  our  children  must 
learn,  even  tho  s)mibolically  at  first,  for  the  full  grasp  of  this 
idea,  as  far  as  it  is  within  human  reach,  is  left  for  mature 
age. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Nature  JVork  as  an  Objective  Basis 

SPENCER  calls  natural  science  the  "knowledge 
which  is  of  most  worth"  as  it  determines  the  regu- 
lation of  our  lives  and  the  progress  of  humanity  and 
civilization  in  every  particular. 
Nature  must  duly  be  considered  as  the  appercep- 
tive basis  of  all  other  work:  it  furnishes  the  only  concrete 
experience  outside  of  emotional  experience. 

As  we  have  seen,  natural  science  work  is  in  reality  the 
attempt  to  understand  our  physical  environment,  apart  from 
the  higher  stages  which  lead  to  an  appreciation  of  the  na- 
ture even  of  our  mental  and  moral  qualities  and  functions. 
In  the  sense  just  spoken  of,  as  referring  to  the  physical  en- 
vironment, it  is  geography,  or  intimately  related  to,  and 
based  upon  geographical  apperception.  This  is  at  least  true 
of  the  elementary  stage. 

In  the  high  school  there  will  be  specialization  and  dif- 
ferentiation. The  different  branches  of  science  will  be 
studied  separately  and  intensely,  to  prepare  for  a  higher  unity 
of  conception:  world-conceptiwi — the  conception  of  an  en- 
vironment of  the  highest  order. 

The  climbing  of  the  ladder  that  leads  up  to  this  broad 
view  of  the  universe  is  a  slow  process,  and  must  begin  with 
the  training  of  those  organs  of  the  mind  which  mediate  ex- 
perience. In  the  beginning,  and  really  thruout,  science  work 
is  a  training  of  the  senses  to  observe  quickly  and  exactly, 
and  the  training  of  the  mind  to  interpret  truthfully. 

All  concrete  experience  has  an  emotional  value.  In  other 
words  it  appeals  to  our  feelings  and  depends  upon  our  inter- 
est.    Experience  not  based  on  interest  fails  to  become  prop- 

170 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       171 

erly  assimilated  and  is  largely  lost. 

There  is,  however,  unconscious  absorption  going  on  all  the 
time  which  may  eventually  lead  to  later  associations  creat- 
ing unexpected  interests.  Therefore,  the  proper  environ- 
ment will  manifest  its  silent  influence  sooner  or  later.  Yet 
for  the  complete  and  ready  internalizing  of  the  external, 
every  sense  impression  must  rouse  in  our  soul  a  correspond- 
ing emotional  vibration.  This  emotional  element  is  what 
has  been  called  interest. 

Interest  depends  to  a  very  large  extent  upon  early  ex- 
periences and  absorptions.  But  there  is  another  element  in 
it:  the  mental  condition  which  the  individual  has  reached  in 
the  process  of  evolution,  of  awakening,  or  maturing.  We 
must,  therefore,  study  the  successive  interests  dominating  the 
child  mind. 

Prof.  Earl  Barnes  made,  some  years  ago,  a  comprehen- 
sive study  of  children's  interests.  He  first  referred  to  Alf. 
Binet's  experiments  on  his  two  girls  of  2 5^  and  4^  years 
respectively,  as  reported  in  the  "Revue  Philosophique",  1890. 
Judging  from  their  answers  to  certain  selected  questions, 
their  greatest  interest  in  the  common  objects  mentioned  in 
these  questions,  lay  in  their  use,  and  in  the  second  place, 
in  their  movements.  They  almost  never  described  an  object 
by  telling  its  color,  form,  size,  material,  or  structure.  They 
gave,  not  its  qualities,  but  what  it  was  good  for,  and  what 
it  could  do.  Of  his  own  experiments  Prof.  Barnes  says 
this: 

"An  examination  of  the  papers  showed  that  the  answers 
could  be  grouped  under  the  following  general  heads:  USE, 
— a  clock  is  to  tell  time;  LARGER  TERM, — a  clock  is  a 
time  piece;  ACTION, — a  clock  goes  tick  tack;  QUAL- 
ITY,— a  clock  is  pretty;  PLACE, — a  clock  is  on  the  wall; 
COLOR, — a  clock  is  yellow;  FORM, — a  clock  is  round; 
STRUCTURE,— a  clock  has  a  face  and  wheels;  SUB- 
STANCE.— a  clock  is  made  of  wood  and  iron.     .     .     ." 

At  7,  Barnes  shows,  use  is  far  in  the  lead,  larger  term  and 
action  come  next,  but  are  still  far  behind.  At  11,  use  is  still 
the  leader,  while  larger  term  has  overtaken  all  the  rest  and 
is  half  way  up  to  use.    At  15,  use  and  larger  term  are  the 


172      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

leaders,  larger  term  being  a  little  ahead  of  use.  Substance 
and  structure  have  gained  ground  considerably  since  ii,  and 
are  now  about  one-third  of  use.     He  continues: 

"Prof.  Oliver  P.  Jenkins  has  called  my  attenion  to  the 
fact  that  most  of  the  definitions  of  use  also  describe  actions. 
The  children  describe  an  object  by  putting  it  in  action,  so 
as  to  satisfy  their  own  particular  desire  or  needs.*  'A  horse 
is  what  takes  us  riding,'  or  'A  knife  is  good  to  cut  bread 
with,'  illustrates  this  combined  use  and  action.  .  .  . 
With  the  children  of  all  ages  substance  and  structure  are 
hard  to  express.     .     .     . 

"They  show  that  our  natural  history  and  object  lessons 
with  primary  children  if  they  are  to  appeal  to  their  interests 
must  start  with  the  uses  and  activities  of  objects,  gradually 
lead  out  thru  what  the  things  can  do  and  what  they  are 
made  of,  to  their  structure,  form,  color,  etc.  In  work  with 
objects  we  generally  start  out  with  the  superficial  qualities 
taking  what  Agassiz  found  interesting  to  college  boys  and 
applying  it  directly  to  primary  children.  We  take  an  apple 
and  say:  What  is  this?  What  is  it  covered  with?  What  is 
on  this  end?  What  shape  has  it?  What  color  is  it?  etc, 
etc.  This  study  seems  to  indicate  that  if  we  are  to  follow 
the  child's  natural  bent  we  should  start  with  the  discussion 
of  what  the  apple  is  good  for.  One  of  our  new  readers 
starts  out  with :  'An  apple  is  round  like  a  ball ;'  this  study 
seems  to  say  that  it  would  be  better  to  start  with:  'The 
apple  is  good  to  eat;'  or,  'The  apple  grows  on  a  tree.'     .     .  . 

"Whether  one  accepts  the  theory  that  each  individual  lives 
over  the  history  of  the  race  or  not,  it  is  still  interesting  to 
note  that  in  Homer  or  Herodotus  one  finds  this  same  ten- 
dency to  dwell  on  movement,  use,  and  substance." 
'  Prof.  Barnes'  study  shows,  in  his  own  words,  that  chil- 
dren's interests  develop  according  to  pretty  definite  laws 
which  can  be  determined  and  used  as  a  basis  on  which  to 
build  educational  activity.  It  also  shows  that  with  young 
children  we  must  not  expect  elaborate  conceptions  of  the 


*This  is  precisely  the  method  Homer  employs  in  his  descrip- 
ms  and  cotnoarisons.     G. 


tions  and  comparisons.    G. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       173 

things  about  them.  One  or  two  of  the  most  striking  attri- 
butes of  an  object  are  sufficient  to  identify  and  describe  it. 

His  results  were  later  corroborated  in  the  main  features 
by  experiments  made  by  the  late  Prof.  Edward  R.  Shaw, 
altho  there  is  some  little  difference  in  terminology. 

We  may  put  the  results  of  these  studies  in  another  form. 
Use  refers  to  the  relation  of  the  nature-material  to  man.  It 
is  thru  the  human  element  that  we  reach  an  interest  in  the 
world  we  live  in. 

This  is  functionally  true  of  young  minds.  The  purely 
intellectual  interest  in  science  is  a  late  development  and  char- 
acteristic of  the  very  few. 

This  suggests  another  principle  of  presentation.  We  must 
humanize  the  material  by  referring  it  in  every  possible  way 
to  the  interests  of  the  human  soul,  or  connecting  it  with  the 
human  personality  which  appeals  to  the  emotional  interests 
of  the  child.  Scientific  discoveries  e.  g.,  will  be  fitly  human- 
ized by  the  biographies  and  struggles  of  their  discoverers. 

The  primitive  mind  endows  all  natural  forces  with  per- 
sonal qualities.  This  is  what  has  been  called  the  animistic 
view  of  nature. 

To  the  savage  and  the  child  the  recognition  of  a  difference 
between  the  self  and  the  non-self  implies  a  tremendous  step 
in  mental  evolution.  But  even  this  recognition  does  not 
mean  that  the  difference  between  the  outside  world  phenom- 
ena and  the  inside  world  of  feelings  and  thoughts  is  properly 
grasped.  It  involves  an  advanced  intellectual  insight  in  the 
causality  of  things  to  realize  the  difference  between  organic 
and  inorganic  processes  and  qualities.  The  immature  mind 
will  therefore  naively  endow  the  outside  world,  the  non-self 
world,  with  the  same  qualities  which  is  possessed  by  man 
himself.  This  is  what  is  called  the  animistic  view  of  nature, 
— a  view  which  transfers  upon  external  phenomena  and  ob- 
jective facts  such  causes  as  may  be  working  subjectively  in 
the  human  mind  and  feelings.  It  is  neither  an  easy  nor 
a  rapid  process  to  emancipate  the  mind  from  this  tendency, 
and  we  shall  do  best  by  taking  the  child  on  his  own  terms 
in  this  as  in  every  phase  of  his  development  during  the  years 
of  school  education.     In  other  words,  it  commends  itself  to 


174      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

make  proper  use  of  his  animistic  tendency  in  the  teach- 
ing of  nature,  as  other  methods  will  fail. 

Here  we  are  again  reminded  of  the  necessity  of  grading 
the  material  and  adjusting  our  methods  of  presentation  in 
accordance  with  the  successive  natural  instincts  of  childhood. 

We  may,  in  this  work,  rely  upon  the  children's  native  love 
of  nature.  But,  indeed,  it  is  not  classified  knowledge  they 
care  for  in  the  beginning.  Inspiration  must  come  before 
inclination. 

"The  great  love  of  nature,  compared  with  the  distaste  for 
science  existing  in  the  same  individuals,  is  a  blow  at  the 
present  methods  of  killing  scientific  interests  by  the  text  book 
method  of  instruction.  640  were  lovers  of  some  form  of 
nature,  while  only  290  of  the  same  individuals  liked  any  one 
science.  This  love  of  nature  should  be  utilized  to  develop 
the  scientific  spirit  in  the  pupil."* 

The  same  thought  is  expressed  by  J.  O.  Quantz,  in  his 
fascinating  study  of  "Dendro-Psychoses",*  in  the  following 
language : 

"Children  are  already  and  naturally  in  sympathetic 
rapport  with  nature.  Our  training  of  them  must  contain 
enough  letting  alone  to  allow  this  attitude  toward  nature  to 
continue.  This  reverence  for  nature,  and  feeling  of  at-home- 
ness  with  her,  is  one  aspect  of  the  child-like  spirit  which 
surely  need  never  be  outgrown.  Scientific  description  and 
classification  of  objects  is  as  artificial  to  child  mind  as  simi- 
lar abstraction  and  generalization  would  be  to  the  lowest 
savage." 

Altho  experiments  and  other  concrete  experiences  should 
be  introduced  in  the  earliest  years  in  conjunction  with  geo- 
graphical and  other  studies  to  secure  proper  training  of  the 
power  of  observation,  and  to  build  up  a  rational  apperceptive 
basis,  the  symbolic  and  mythological  element  must  precede 
the  strictly  rational.  Myths,  legends,  and  fairy  tales  will 
lead  to  scientific  conceptions  of  the  world,  properly  so-called, 


*E.  G.  Lancaster,  "Psychology  and  Pedagogy  of  Adolescence,'' 
Pedag.  Sem.  V.  I. 
*Amer.  Jrl.  of  Psych.,  IX,  4. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       175 

and  we  must  not  thrust  the  rationalizing  interpretation  upon 
the  children  in  a  pedantic  way,  but  leave  this  to  their  own 
natural  adjustment.  Well  says  A.  C.  Ellis,  in  his  "Philoso- 
phy of  Education":* 

"The  larger  correlation  in  teaching  the  mythopoetic  and 
instinctive  with  the  scientific  and  intellectual  views  of  na- 
ture, is  now  demanding  attention  from  a  new  standpoint. 
.  .  .  On  every  hand  the  reports  of  the  higher  teachers  is 
that  the  little  smattering  of  science  has  not  only  failed  to 
give  children  the  accurate  knowledge  desired,  but  has  often 
seared  off  the  budding  interest  beyond  the  possibility  of  re- 
vival in  the  serious  later  science  work.  .  .  .  It  is  an- 
other illustration  of  the  danger  of  applying  the  adult  stand- 
ard to  children  and  of  building  a-priori  educational  ideals, 
instead  of  first  examining  into  the  mental  condition  of  the 
child  to  see  what  he  wants  and  what  he  can  handle.  If  we 
had  known  ten  years  ago  what  is  now  known  of  children,  it 
could  have  been  seen  beforehand  that  they  have  little  or  no 
interest  or  apperceptive  organ  for  scientific  theories  till  well 
on  into  adolescence,  that  their  reason,  interest  in  original 
sources  and  scientific  accuracy,  powers  of  making  large  in- 
ference, and  critical  judgment,  eagerness  to  question  and 
solve  doubts  of  this  kind  do  not  rise  till  late,  while  the  early 
school  years  are  filled  with  an  animistic  appreciation  of  na- 
ture, with  intense  love  of  the  usual  mythopoetic  and  folk- 
conceptions.  .  .  .  The  race  unable  to  develop  this  myth 
in  youth  has  failed  to  develop  the  philosophy  and  science  in 
adult  life.  The  question  is  then  asked  in  all  seriousness  if 
the  later  healthy  growth  of  scientific  interest  is  not  starved 
in  its  embryonic  period  when  the  child  is  started  with  the 
strong  food  of  pure  science  and  not  fed  first  upon  the  pap  of 
nature  myth  and  folk-lore.  Certain  it  is  that  studies  of  chil- 
dren show  them,  in  spite  of  our  efforts,  often  saturated  with 
these  notions  and  ever  in  sympathy  with  them.     .     .     ." 

It  has  been  objected  to  a  course  of  this  nature  that  it  will 
lead  the  children  to  take  a  superstitious  view  of  phenomenal 
life.     But  again  we  must  not  impose  the  standard  of  the 


*Pedag.  Semin.,  Oct.,  1897. 


176      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

rational  adult  upon  the  immature  child.  What  appears  a 
superstition  to  us  is  a  mythopoetic  conception  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  undeveloped  mind.  A  mythopoetic  view  becomes 
a  superstition  only  when  it  persists  in  surviving  the  develop- 
ment to  maturity.  Superstitions  must  be  lopped  off,  but  it 
is  doubtful  whether  a  child  whose  attitude  is  rationalizing 
from  the  start,  can  be  considered  a  pleasing  and  wholesome 
creature.  There  is  danger  that  such  a  child  will  never  grow 
up  to  have  ideals,  or,  for  that  matter,  genuine  science  and 
philosophy. 

We  need  not  be  afraid  of  these  early  superstitions,  and 
should  realize  how  obstinately,  in  spite  of  our  efforts  at 
times,  they  will  take  possession  of  our  children.  If  we  oppose 
them  injudiciously,  we  may  lose  the  power  of  influencing 
the  children   altogether. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  emphasize  that,  at  the  proper  period, 
this  symbolic  treatment  must  be  made  to  lead  up  to  scien- 
tific view-points.  We  must  not  allow  the  children  to  "get 
stuck"  in  the  myths,  altho  our  most  modern  experience  may 
show  that  some  people  will  never  outgrow  the  mythological 
stage. 

In  introducing  the  objective  and  rational  element,  how- 
ever, it  is  well  not  to  forget  that  experiments  in  school  will 
forever  be  narrow  and  typical,  and  consequently  limited  in 
application.  The  myths,  even  at  this  stage,  will  essentially 
assist  in  giving  the  elementary  mind  the  broad  outlook  which 
the  experimental  treatment  will  fail  to  give.  And  even  in 
the  higher  stages,  experiment  can  cover  only  a  small  portion 
of  the  entire  ground,  and  will  mainly  serve  to  give  a  key  to 
the  appreciation  of  authoritave  teaching.  Thus,  experience 
will  be  forever  supplemented  by  belief,  thru  book  study  which 
must  be  taken  on  faith.  Truly,  there  is  an  essential  differ- 
ence between  the  simple  faith  of  the  primitive  mind,  and 
sdentific  faith,  in  so  much  as  the  latter  is  at  all  times  sub- 
ject to  proof,  on  the  basis  of  the  typical  experience  spoken  of. 

The  concrete  work  itself  should  be  varied  and  typical,  as 
said  before,  and  it  should  call  forth  the  self-activity  of  the 
pupils,  not  merely  their  contemplative  powers.  In  other 
words,  they  should  not  be  lookers-(m  in  the  experimental 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       177 

efforts  comprised  under  this  head.  Some  of  the  experiments 
may  have  to  be  performed  by  the  teacher  for  the  class  to 
observe;  but  the  greater  part  must  be  done  by  the  pupils 
themselves.  These  experiments  and  observations  have  a  dis- 
tinct relation  to  manual  training  exercises  as  has  been  shown 
in  previous  chapters. 

The  experiences  conveyed  to  the  pupils  by  this  concrete 
work  may  be  divided  into  two  groups: 

(i)   First-hand  experiences. 

These  will  be  gathered  not  only  in  the  laboratory  or  school 
room,  but  in  school  and  kitchen  gardens,  in  the  shop,  and 
on  excursions.  School  gardens  will  furnish  the  basis  for 
horticulture,  kitchen  gardens  will  be  the  first  step  to  agricul- 
ture; both  will  lead  up  to  a  practical  study  of  domestic  sci- 
ence, which  will  later  include  physiology  and  hygiene.  They 
will  also  offer  opportunity  for  the  introduction  and  use  of 
some  primitive,  typical  occupations  and  tools;  in  the  working 
of  the  ground,  and  in  the  nursing  of  plants,  they  will  use 
the  hoe,  spade,  rake,  budding  knife,  pruning  shears,  etc. 

Out  of  the  narrow  precincts  of  schoolroom  and  school 
garden,  botanizing  excursions,  trips  to  study  the  configura- 
tion of  the  country,  and  the  animal  life  characteristic  of  it, 
will  take  the  children  with  their  teachers  into  the  woods 
and  fields,  the  hills  and  valleys  of  the  surrounding  country, 
and  in  later  stages,  even  to  more  distant  regions.  It  has  been 
shown  that  these  excursions,  besides  being  instructionally  val- 
uable and  ministering  to  healthful  exercise,  answer  a  natural 
instinct  of  the  children  of  this  age:  the  migratory  instinct, 
"die  Wanderlust"  of  the  Teutonic  races,  and  that  a  neglect 
of  recognition  of  this  tendency  must  necessarily  work  mis- 
chief, and  breed  truancy.  Says  Mr.  L.  W.  Kline,  in  his 
study  of  truancy:* 

"The  great  majority  went  to  river,  pond,  brook,  to  fish, 
skate,  swim  and  play  in  the  water.  Next  in  order  comes  the 
woods  and  fields,  then  to  play  ball  and  other  games,  to  see 
parades  and  be  in  great  gatherings  and  on  the  street.    Many 


♦Pedag.  Semin.  V. 


178       THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

are  described  as  having  an  immoderate  love  for  sight-seeing, 
excitement  and  outdoor  experiences." 

This  sight-seeing  might  well  be  made  an  organic  element 
in  school  instruction,  if  intelligently  managed,  for  it  affords 
a  vast  amount  of  special  experience.  But  this  belongs  only 
indirectly  under  the  head  of  science  teaching.  However,  the 
city  streets,  the  fields,  the  forests,  and  the  brookside;  mu- 
seums, zoological  and  botanical  gardens,  aquaria,  factories, 
machine  shc^,  etc.,  etc.,  furnish  an  inexhaustible  opportu- 
nity for  concrete  experience. 

These  excursions  will  be  the  occasion  for  gathering  nu- 
merous specimens  of  all  kinds,  illustrative  of  the  territory 
explored.  The  world  of  plants  and  animals,  of  rock  and 
mountain  side,  of  industry  and  trade,  will  thus  be  carried 
concretely  into  the  schoolroom;  and  collections  of  this  kind, 
made  by  the  children  themselves  and  fraught  with  live  asso- 
ciations, will  be  a  hundredfold  more  valuable  and  impressive 
than  ready  made  collections,  or  museum-like  specimens, 
brought  to  them. 

Collections  need  not  be  of  dead  things,  or  dried  and  with- 
ering things  only.  There  ought  to  be  living  plants  in  the 
schoolroom;  and  there  might  be  living  pets  about  at  home 
and  in  school:  rabbits,  or  birds,  or  fishes;  terraria,  aviaries, 
aquaria. 

Then  there  are: 

(2)  Second-hand  experiences  which  the  skill  and  care 
of  the  teacher  will  make  as  vivid  as  possible.  Among  the 
means  to  produce  these  are  colored  pictures,  photographs,  and 
representations  of  all  kinds;  lantern  slides  and  moving  pic- 
tures ;  and  in  the  largest  measure,  books  and  the  live  word  of 
mouth  from  the  inspired  teacher. 

This  caution  is  necessary  in  all  science  teaching  to  young 
pupils:  do  not  classify  too  early,  and  always  respect  the 
apperceptive  basis  of  the  child. 

The  mental  and  moral  injury  done  by  faulty  methods  is 
the  more  deplorable  as  the  final  aim  of  true  science  work 
should  be  to  develop  in  the  pupil,  in  the  first  place,  a  scien- 


*As  to  Nature  vs.  Curator,  cf.  Chap.  II,  p.  27. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       179 

tific  method  of  research  and  thinking,  and  the  scientific  at- 
titude generally;  and  secondly,  that  reverence  for  life  in 
nature,  and  that  ethical  attitude  which  are  the  foundation 
of  true  religiosity. 

The  ethical,  reverential  attitude,  of  which  mention  has 
been  made  and  which  constitutes  the  most  precious  gain  of 
genuine  science  work,  is  well  characterized  by  the  following 
lines  from  two  of  our  master  minds  and  prophets  whose 
words  need  no  comment: 

To  him  who  in  the  love  of  nature  holds 
Communion  with  her  visible  forms,  she  speaks 
A  various  language. 

(Bryant,  Thanatopsis). 

Flower  in  the  crannied  wall, 

I  pluck  you  out  of  the  crannies, 

I  hold  you  here,  root  and  all,  in  my  hand, 

Little  flower — but  :/  I  could  understand 

What  you  are,  root  and  all,  and  all  in  all, 

I  should  know  what  God  and  man  is. 

(Tennyson). 


CHAPTER  XII 

Language  Teaching 

GRAMMAR  is  elementary  logic  as  Bain  has  it. 
In  an  able  article  on  the  "History  of  English 
Grammar  Teaching"  (Educational  Review, 
XII,  5)  Mr.  F.  A.  Barbour  puts  the  same 
thoughts  in  the  following  words:  "Grammatical 
analysis  .  .  .  not  only  exemplifies  etymological  changes 
and  rules  of  syntax,  but  it  is  a  critical  investigation  into  the 
logical  structure  of  sentences.  It  cannot  be  committed  to 
memory;  it  is  a  direct  exercise  of  all  the  logical  faculties." 
That  the  English  language,  almost  uninflected  as  it  is,  pre- 
sents particular  difficulties  to  one  who  is  not  well  trained  in 
logical  reasoning,  is  also  shown  conclusively  in  the  same 
article,  and  is  a  fact  too  well  known  to  need  further  demon- 
stration. "In  Latin  the  form  of  a  word  is  a  direct  aid  to 
recognizing  its  function  in  the  sentence.  Now  the  mere  fact 
that  in  English  the  pupil  is  obliged  to  get  the  meaning  of  the 
sentence  from  the  order  of  the  words,  and  from  a  logical  in- 
sight into  the  content  of  thought  with  little  or  no  aid  from 
the  form  of  the  words — this  very  fact  makes  the  study  of 
English  grammar  a  more  abstract  and  difficult  disciplinary 
subject  than  the  grammar  of  any  highly  inflected  speech." 
(Barbour,  loc.  cit.) 

The  difficulties  appear  to  be  highest  when  definitions  of 
the  parts  of  speech  are  attempted.  To  pick  out  the  subject 
and  predicate,  to  find  modifiers  and  adjuncts,  to  distinguish 
between  simple,  compound  and  complex  sentences,  and  the 
different  kinds  of  phrases,  puzzling  as  the  task  often  is,  may 
perhaps  be  learned  with  some  intelligent  effort  by  bright, 

180 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       i8i 

linguistically  efficient  boys  and  girls  of  the  highest  grammar 
grades,  if  careful  questioning  by  the  teacher  points  the  way 
and  practical  exercises  are  employed  to  give  skill.  But  to 
recognize  a  noun  and  to  define  it  in  distinction  from  an  ad- 
jective or  verb,  is  a  trying  task  even  to  the  skilled  gram- 
marian. In  Latin  and  Greek,  inflection  is  so  highly  devel- 
oped that  it  is  impossible  to  mistake  a  nomen  for  a  verbum, 
even  though  nomina  adjectiva  and  nomina  substantiva  may 
not  always  be  readily  distinguished.  In  German,  nouns  can 
at  once  be  recognized  by  the  fact  that  they  begin  with  a  capi- 
tal letter  and  by  the  use  of  the  gender-indicating  article  with 
them;  when  used  to  modify  another  noun,  they  are  never 
used  adjectively,  but  are  invariably  joined  to  the  noun  they 
qualify  to  form  a  compound  noun,  or  are  employed  in  the 
form  of  an  apposition.  But  in  English  the  same  uninflected 
word  may  be  used  ad  libitum  now  as  a  noun,  now  as  an  ad- 
jective or  verb,  and  some  nouns  even  as  prepositions,  conjunc- 
tions and  what  not.  Compare  the  following  sentences:  "An 
abstract  of  title  is  a  document."  "Abstract  doctrines  are 
difficult  to  understand."  "All  philosophy  that  would  ab- 
stract mankind  from  the  present  is  no  more  than  words." 
Here  the  word  abstract  occurs  three  times,  each  time  in  a 
different  role,  the  last  time  even  with  a  different  pronuncia- 
tion. In  the  title  "The  New  York  Daily  Evening  Messen- 
ger," the  proper  noun  "New  York"  and  the  common  noun 
"evening",  are  both  used  as  qualifying  adjectives.  These 
are  examples  of  very  ordinary  occurrence.  But  there  is  a 
large  number  of  less  frequent  expressions  which  have  the 
effect  of  veritable  grammatical  puzzles — the  glaring  head- 
lines of  newspaper  articles  are  full  of  them.  Many  words 
have  their  puzzle  character  enhanced  by  the  fact  that  they 
may  not  only  belong  to  different  parts  of  speech,  but  that 
they  have  more  than  one  meaning,  or  that  a  different  pro- 
nunciation gives  them  a  different  significance.  (Cf.  bow, 
sow,  read,  etc.) 

It  requires  little  thought  to  realize  that  the  difficulties 
presented  by  such  cases  are  indeed  insurmountable  for  young 
children  with  minds  untrained  in  logical  discrimination.  And 
yet  one  of  the  first  things  they  are  expected  to  learn  in  gram- 


i82      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

mar  is  a  series  of  definitions  of  the  parts  of  speech.  These 
definitions  are,  as  a  rule,  very  unsatisfactory  and  misleading; 
exact  definitions  require  so  high  a  degree  of  analytic  acute- 
ness  and  insight  that  only  trained  grammatical  minds  can 
frame  and  appreciate  them.  There  are,  besides,  few  gram- 
mars for  school  use  that  agree  on  the  definition  of  some  of 
the  most  common  words  of  the  language.  To  illustrate: 
Such  words  as  "this"  and  "that"  (in  "this  book"  and  "that 
hat")  are  called  by  Swinton's  Grammar  (1877)  and  Whit- 
ney's Essentials  of  English  Grammar  (1877)  "demonstrative 
pronominal  adjectives";  by  Metcalf's  English  Grammar 
(1894)  "demonstrative  adjective  pronouns";  by  Maxwell's 
Advanced  Lessons  in  English  Grammar  (1891)  simply  "ad- 
jectives" (p.  121).  The  last  named  Grammar,  however, 
names  "which"  and  "what"  when  used  with  a  noun  (as  in 
"what  dignity,"  "which  numbers")  interrogative  pronouns. 
In  all  these  grammars  "my"  and  "mine",  "your"  and 
"yours",  etc.,  are  merely  given  as  the  possessive  cases  of  "I", 
"you",  etc.,  respectively;  while  their  independent  adjectival 
character  is  recognized  by  West's  Elements  of  English  Gram- 
mar (1893).  And  thus,  examples  may  be  multipled,  even 
from  the  most  modern  language  books  for  schools. 

Now  what  degree  of  power  does  a  child  possess  to  grapple 
with  the  tasks  of  grammatical  discrimination  and  analysis? 
In  other  words,  in  what  measure  does  the  development  of 
the  logical  faculty  in  the  child  correspond  with  the  demands 
usually  made  upon  his  reasoning  power? 

In  ordinary  school  practice  the  child  is  expected  to  be 
able  to  assimilate  any  kind  of  knowledge  presented  to  him.  He 
is  considered,  so  to  speak,  as  a  small  adult;  as  endowed  with 
pretty  much  the  same  faculties  as  the  grown-up  mind,  only 
perhaps,  on  a  smaller  scale,  or  in  an  untrained  condition. 
In  most  cases  the  teacher  will  treat  her  pupil  as  if  the  lat- 
ter were  simply  ignorant,  owing  to  his  lack  of  years,  and 
as  if  the  business  of  teaching  were  merely  to  pour  into  his 
empty  head  that  amount  of  knowledge  and  information  which 
is  thought  necessary,  yet  wanting.  Thus  the  child  of 
school  age  is  regarded  as  equally  able  as  the  adult  to  learn, 
that  is  to  comprehend,  any  branch  of  human  knowledge,  no 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       183 

matter  to  what  activity  of  mind  it  appeals.  It  is  therefore 
thought  perfectly  feasible,  if  only  the  necessary  time  is  grant- 
ed, to  teach  the  so-called  elements  of  so  abstract  a  discipline 
as  grammar,  even  to  young  students.  We  may  be  reminded, 
by  the  way,  that  what  is  meant  to  be  a  presentation  of  the 
elements  often  takes  the  form  of  a  highly  abstract  synopsis 
of  the  science  of  grammar — a  synopsis  which  in  its  totality 
can  really  be  mastered  only  by  very  mature  minds. 

That  the  development  of  the  child-mind  is,  in  point  of 
fact,  a  process  of  maturing;  that  the  young  child  is  by  no 
means  a  logical  being,  but  pre-eminently  imitative;  that  his 
knowledge,  and  his  mode  of  thinking,  are  fragmentary;  that 
the  power  of  reasoning  is  of  slow  growth;  that  there  are 
nascent  periods  in  the  child's  mental  evolution,  when  new 
forces  manifest  themselves  in  the  form  of  new  activities  and 
interests;  that  these  periods  of  increased  power  alternate 
with  periods  of  seeming  retrograde,  or  at  least  suspended  de- 
velopment, but  which  are  in  reality  times  of  latent  growth, 
when  the  child's  physical  and  mental  forces  are  gathering 
strength  for  the  next  important  stride  forward;  that  the 
power  of  assimilation  is  conditioned  by  the  laws  of  apper- 
ception and  interest;  and  that  all  these  changes  and  condi- 
tions are  intimately  related  to,  and  dependent  upon,  the 
physical  growth  and  development  of  the  child:  all  these 
facts,  which  have  grown  old  with  the  race,  now  force  them- 
selves upon  the  teachers  like  a  new  revelation,  born  out  of  the 
new  enthusiasm  for  a  more  systematic  study  of  the  child  soul. 
This  new  recognition  of  the  laws  governing  the  child's  pow- 
ers of  acquisition  and  assimilation,  will,  of  course,  gradually 
affect  the  school  curriculum,  and  new  standards,  and  a  new 
sequence  of  topics  will  result  therefrom. 

To  a  young  child,  logical  order,  or  logical  requirements, 
mean  little.  His  knowledge  being  fragmentary,  he  has  no 
conception  that  anything  essential  is  wanting  to  complete  a 
logical  whole,  or  to  meet  a  logical  demand.  There  is  nothing 
extraordinary  in  a  fairy-tale  to  the  conception  of  a  child,  im- 
possible as  a  hero's  exploits  may  seem  to  us.  The  fabulous 
phoenix,  with  its  resurrection  from  the  flames;  or  the  crea- 
tion of  armed  men  out  of  dragon's  teeth,  do  not  present  any 


1 84      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

logical  difficulties  to  the  young  mind ;  even  if  it  doubts  their 
truth  in  matter  of  fact,  this  is  merely  because  it  has  learned 
to  appreciate  the  charms  of  fanciful  invention,  and  not  on 
account  of  their  logical  absurdity.  The  ability  to  appreciate 
law  and  order,  and  to  reason  out  possibilities  and  impossibil- 
ities, to  distinguish  between  desirable,  indifferent,  and  neces- 
sary things, — presupposes  a  large  stock  of  experiences  stored 
up  in  the  brain,  with  the  association  fibres  well  established 
between  them  and  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect  frequently 
observed  and  sounded.  The  absence  of  these  prerequisites 
causes  the  child  to  make  so  many  blunders  in  grammar,  and 
to  remain  unimpressed  by  what  the  adult  mind  conceives  to 
be  a  self-evident  logical  necessity.  The  child  of  pre-pubertal 
age  will  rarely  understand  why  some  verbs  are  transitive 
and  require  an  object;  and  in  countless  other  ways  teachers 
will  meet  with  an  apparent  obtuseness  which  leads  to  so  many 
well-known  grammatical  mistakes.  The  learning  of  rules 
does  not  help  this  condition.  Some  minds  will  never  out- 
grow this  stage  of  non-reasoning. 

Let  us  not  mistake  the  child's  early  interest  in  the  causal 
idea  for  a  sufficient  evidence  of  logical  ability.  The  child 
asks  "Why?"  at  a  very  early  period  of  his  life;  he  is  a  bom 
investigator  into  organic  causes.  But  whether  these  causes 
are  logical  causes,  necessary  causes,  inevitable  causes;  wheth- 
er the  same  cause  must  always  have  the  same  effect,  and 
whether  a  cause  is  potent  in  all  its  relations,  being  modified 
only  by  other  potent  causes;  all  this  which  characterizes  ab- 
stract reasoning,  is  utterly  indifferent  to  him.  He  is  usually 
satisfied  with  any  cause  that  you  will  state  to  him,  even  if  it 
be  logically  absurd.  Not  until  his  manifold  experiences  will 
have  assumed  form  and  order  in  his  mind,  will  he  gradually 
learn  to  appreciate  what  is  termed  the  true  causal  nexus  and 
become  capable  of  making  logical  inferences,  at  least  in  mat- 
ters of  abstract  thought. 

Young  children  are  not  as  apt,  as  many  may  suppose,  to 
profit  by  their  errors.  In  his  instructive  "Study  of  Puzzles," 
in  the  "American  Journal  of  Psychology"  (July,  1897) 
Ernest  H.  Lindley  has  convincingly  shown  that  in  the  at- 
tempt to  solve  problems,  children  will  have  to  repeat  their 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       185 

errors  many  times  before  their  significance  is  understood. 
Their  mode  of  procedure  is  essentially  dependent  upon  habit 
and  imitation;  "recency  and  vividness"  of  concrete  experi- 
ences are  responsible  for  most  of  their  notions  and  acts.  If 
reason  is  a  perception  of  relations,  then  young  children  are 
little  above  the  "sense  trial  and  error"  order  of  procedure; 
and  while  they  may  perhaps  early  learn  to  perceive  simple 
relations  and  make  simple  adaptations  thereby,  fatigue,  tem- 
porary loss  of  interest,  etc,  may  produce  a  relapse  into  the 
animal  method  of  absolute  non-reasoning  (loc.  cit.  p.  479). 
"Tests  of  a  number  of  children  varying  in  age  from  3  to  12, 
show  surprisingly  little  logic"  (p.  476). 

Experiments  on  mathematical  reasoning  have  been  reported 
on  by  John  A.  Hancock,  in  the  "Educational  Review"  of 
October,  1896. 

If  such  lack  of  insight  into  simple  mathematical  relations 
can  be  observed — and  no  teacher  of  arithmetic  will  fail  to 
observe  specimens  of  it — it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
the  more  difficult  problems  of  grammar,  involving  not  only 
some  subtle  logic,  but  also  an  appreciation  of  etymological 
development  and  syntactical  peculiarities — will  encounter 
still  greater  "obtuseness"  on  the  part  of  a  large  percentage 
of  pupils. 

The  investigations  just  alluded  to,  and  which  are  corrob- 
orated by  many  other  tests,  indicate  that  there  are  critical 
periods  in  the  development  of  the  child's  mind — periods  of 
rapid  growth,  preceded  or  followed  by  periods  of  apparent 
dullness.  Whether  physical  growth  and  mental  growth 
progress  in  inverse  ratio  or  not,  it  is  as  yet  an  open  problem; 
the  facts  at  our  disposal  are  somewhat  contradictory  with  re- 
gard to  this  point.  But  all  tests  point  to  the  eighth,  tenth, 
and  twelfth  years  as  times  of  change.  These  stages  corre- 
spond broadly  to  periods  of  marked  significance  in  the  devel- 
ment  of  the  brain.  According  to  H.  H.  Donaldson  ("The 
Growth  of  the  Brain"),  the  brain  attains  almost  its  full 
weight  at  the  eighth  year  of  a  child's  life  and,  with  some 
fluctuations,  the  maximum  weight  is  reached  between  the 
thirteenth  and  fifteenth.  "The  young  child  is  a  reflex  and 
automatic   organism.     .     .     .     The   child   even   so   old   as 


1 86      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

eight  years  is  rather  like  an  animal  in  method  of  adaptation 
than  like  the  human  adult"  (Lindley,  loc.  cit.  p.  480).  His 
mental  characteristic  is  imitativeness.  "This  does  not  de- 
grade the  mental  status  of  children,  but  rather  dignifies  imi- 
tation, or  suggestibility,  or  whatever  this  instinct  may  be 
called  as  that  psychic  element  which  has  largely  shaped  hu- 
man destiny  whenever  the  higher  intellectual  faculties  were 
pushed  in  the  background."  (Cf.  Prof.  Edw.  A.  Ross,  "The 
Mob  Mind,"  Popular  Science  Monthly,  July,  1897.)  How- 
ever, from  the  eighth  year,  a  beginning  of  true  reasoning, 
that  is  the  perception  of  simple  relations,  may  be  observed. 

In  a  study  of  children's  superstitions  (Clara  Vostrovska, 
Studies  in  Education,  I.  4),  the  children's  natural  inclination 
towards  absurd  beliefs  and  their  inability  to  do  abstract  rea- 
soning is  strongly  emphasized.  But  while  it  is  shown  that 
"few  children  know  bow  to  generalize",  and  that  "each  case 
is  a  separate  case  to  them",  it  is  also  demonstrated  that  the 
"change  from  belief  to  unbelief"  occurs  "about  the  tenth 
year."  With  regard  to  matters  of  discipline,  rules  of  conduct 
and  punishments  of  transgressions,  we  find  that  "the  great 
majority  of  young  children  do  not  discriminate  kinds  and  de- 
grees of  offences."  (Studies  in  Education,  I,  9,  p.  348). 
Here  the  same  absence  of  power  of  logical  discrimination  and 
of  the  ability  to  generalize.  Yet  in  a  study  of  "Class  Pun- 
ishment" (by  Caroline  Frear,  loc.  cit.)  we  read:  "It  is  in- 
teresting to  notice  that  the  sentiment  that  the  class  ought  to 
co-operate  with  the  teacher  in  the  detection  of  guilt  increases 
with  age,  from  39  per  cent,  before  10  years  of  age,  to  50  per 
cent,  after  ten  years."  Thus  the  tenth  year  is  again  established 
as  an  important  turning  point  in  the  child's  mental  develop- 
ment. For  without  a  keener  appreciation  of  the  need  of  con- 
scious adjustment,  of  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect,  of 
mutual  obligation,  dim  as  it  yet  may  be,  this  new  social  senti- 
ment could  not  spring  up.  It  marks  the  dawn  of  true  rea- 
soning. Other  studies  point  the  same  way,  and  Earl  Barnes 
(loc.  cit.  p.  356)  recognizes  the  age  of  from  ten  to  thirteen 
as  a  period  of  great  mental  activity,  tending  to  develop  the 
power  to  think  in  logical  sequences,  crude  as  these  attempts 
may  yet  be.     During  this,  the  pre-pubertal  period,  we  shall 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       187 

observe  in  the  child  glimpses  of  that  critical  tendency  which  at 
the  age  of  pubescence  and  adolescence  proper  will  induce 
the  young  man  and  woman  to  doubt  and  revise  most  of  their 
notions  and  beliefs  hitherto  accepted  upon  the  authority  of 
teacher  and  parent,  and  to  establish  new  association  tracts 
in  accordance  with  their  bold  attempt  at  independent  think- 
ing. Now,  logical  thought,  radical  reasoning,  often  sur- 
prisingly unconventional,  often  producing  even  a  revolution- 
ary attitude  towards  established  modes  of  thought,  will  as- 
sert their  influence  powerfully. 

If  we  allow  ourselves  to  be  guided  by  the  results  of  these 
investigations,  in  laying  out  a  course  of  language,  or  specific- 
ally grammar,  instruction,  we  must  first  take  care  to  remove 
from  the  curriculum  of  the  lower  and  intermediate  grades  all 
such  exercises  which  require  strictly  logical  processes  of 
thought.  We  may  even  doubt  the  wisdom  of  too  early  an 
introduction  of  any  kind  of  formal  language  training  before 
the  eighth  year.  Might  it  not  be  safer  to  devote  all  the  time 
in  the  first  two  grades  of  schoolwork  to  objective  and  sense 
training,  to  the  building  up  of  clear  concepts  thru  nature 
and  manual  work,  including  geometrical  exercises  of  a  con- 
crete character;  and  to  purely  oral  exercises  and  drill  in  oral 
expression, — postponing  the  beginning  of  reading,  writing, 
and  number  work  proper  until  the  pupil  enters  the  third 
grade?  The  advisability  of  such  a  course  ought  to  be  seri- 
ously discussed  as  with  the  present  mode  of  procedure  so 
much  precious  time  and  energy  seem  to  be  wasted  which 
could  be  put  to  better  advantage,  and  as  the  children  after 
having  passed  the  first  critical  turning  point  of  their  develop- 
ment would  perhaps  be  much  better  able  to  cope  with  the 
perplexing  tasks  of  formal  instruction.  But  be  that  as  it 
may,  all  are  agreed  that  with  regard  to  language  training  no 
successful  attempt  can  be  made  in  these  early  years  to  teach 
rules  of  grammar.  Main  stress  will  have  to  be  laid  upon 
opportunities  for  unconscious  absorption  and  imitation  of 
good  language,  from  the  speech  of  parents  and  teachers,  by 
reading  to  the  children,  by  having  them  commit  to  memory 
carefully  chosen  selections  of  poetry  and  prose.  The 
dramatic  instinct  of  the  child  which  is  so  prominent  in  the 


i88      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

early  years,  will  make  him  delight  in  impersonating  different 
characters,  professions  and  occupations,  thus  learning  to  mas- 
ter a  number  of  terms  and  expressions  peculiar  to  them.  Ani- 
mal and  folk-lore  should  be  turned  to  account,  fables  will 
be  helpful,  and  even  flowers  and  minerals  can  be  inspired  to 
speak  to  the  child  their  various  languages.  A  number  of 
simple  rules  and  directions — in  correcting  the  child's  speech 
— such  as  have  no  particular  logical  reason  but  are  essentially 
idiomatic,  can  be  emphasized  now,  and  will  be  obediently 
respected  by  the  youthful  learner.  For  this  is  the  age  when 
he  has  implicit  faith  in  authority,  and  will  believe  things  to 
be  right  or  wrong  just  as  he  is  told,  without  question.  Con- 
stant practice,  varied  in  form,  to  command  the  interest  of  the 
pupil,  will  lay  the  safe  foundations  for  future  language 
study ;  but  there  must  be  a  thought  content  to  every  word  he 
is  made  to  use. 

Every  observer  of  children  knows  that  their  first  attempt 
to  venture  out  on  the  field  of  independent  word-formation 
and  inflection  is  characterized  by  the  method  of  analogy. 
This,  while  assumed  to  be  a  logical  process,  and  undoubtedly 
containing  a  germ  of  true  reasoning,  is  clearly  a  mode  of 
imitative  activity.  The  child  will  conjugate  "I  bring,  I 
brang",  as  he  does  "I  sing,  I  sang,"  without  doubting  his  per- 
fect right  to  do  so.  This  tendency  to  analogize,  as  being  the 
first  dawn  of  reason,  will  be  taken  advantage  of  by  the  skill- 
ful teacher  to  fix  the  regular  forms  in  the  child's  mind,  not 
dwelling,  of  course,  on  grammatical  terms.  The  danger  aris- 
ing from  the  same  tendency  concerning  the  so-called  irregu- 
lar forms  will  be  largely  obviated  by  simply  appealing  to  the 
authority  of  good  usage,  and  making  the  seemingly  anoma- 
lous forms,  types  to  be  followed  in  the  formation  of  new 
analogical  sets.  But  this  can  be  done  to  advantage  only  dur- 
ing these  early  years,  before  the  child's  first  awkward  at- 
tempts to  reason  may  confuse  his  idiomatic  speech.  This  is 
another  argument  in  favor  of  the  belief  that  formal  studies 
be  best  postponed  until  after  the  eighth  year,  so  as  to  gain 
time  for  a  firm  grounding  in  the  idiomatic  use  of  the  lan- 
guage. As  the  memory  is  very  active  and  tenacious  at  this 
age,  these  teachings  will  be  a  gain  forever. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       189 

With  many  children,  if  not  with  all,  the  study  of  another 
living  language  in  addition  to  the  vernacular  will  prove 
helpful.  Such  study  is  by  no  means  an  overtaxation,  and 
will  in  no  wise  injure  the  mother  tongue,  if  competently 
taught.  On  the  contrary,  these  early  years  are  the  very  ones 
when  languages  are  acquired  with  remarkable  facility,  and 
the  practice  of  many  foreign  families  of  the  nobility  where 
children  are  expected  to  converse  in  two  languages  at  an 
early  age,  is  proof  that  there  is  no  difficulty.  And  it  will  be 
noticed  that  the  change  from  one  language  to  another,  while 
it  affords  great  pleasure  to  the  children,  answering  to  their 
play  instinct  in  a  particular  form,  will  also  stimulate  their 
appreciation  of  idiomatic  differences;  it  will  decidedly 
strengthen  their  "feeling"  for  the  idiomatic  characteristics 
of  their  own  language.  The  author  has  been  frequently 
struck  by  the  fitness  of  expressions  chosen  by  young  children 
from  English  speaking  homes,  in  the  rendering  of  German 
phrases  in  idiomatic  English.  They  hit  the  right  translation 
intuitively.  Class  instruction  will  here  prove  beneficial  inas- 
much as  each  child  will  thus  be  benefited  by  the  joint  lin- 
guistic experiences  and  instincts  of  all  the  rest. 

This  remarkable  aptness  of  young  children  to  catch  the 
spirit  of  the  language  need  not  surprise  us.  It  was  in  the 
childhood  of  the  race  and  of  nations  when  language  and  lan- 
guages were  created  and  developed.  These  creations  and  de- 
velopments were  due  to  certain  physiological  laws  inherent 
in  human  nature, — laws  which  are  now  being  more  and 
more  studied  and  understood,  but  of  which  the  language- 
makers  themselves  were  of  course  entirely  unconscious.  Lan- 
guage is  a  growth,  as  it  were,  and  we  say  that  humankind 
created  language  by  following  the  language-making  instinct. 
There  are  general  laws  governing  all  languages;  and  there 
are  peculiarities  found  in  individual  idioms,  also  due  to 
deeper  causes.  Thus  each  language  has  a  "genius"  of  its 
own — each  pictures  a  different  attitude  towards  environment, 
a  different  reaction  to  external  conditions ;  and  this  difference 
of  "genius"  is  commensurate  to  the  degree  of  variation  which 
the  tribe,  or  people,  whose  product  it  is,  represents  among  the 
multitudinous  species  of  the  human  race.     In  other  words, 


I90      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

each  people's  language  reflects  that  people's  racial  character- 
istics, its  individual  life-attitude,  resulting  from  that  "strug- 
gle for  existence",  that  adaptation  to  environment,  which 
fixed  its  status  as  a  separate  type.  But  this  "language-mak- 
ing instinct"  was  especially  active  and  effective  in  the  early 
days,  before  the  type  was  fixed,  when  everything  in  the  type 
character  which  was  to  be,  was  formative,  potential,  flexible. 

This  same  condition  is  observed  in  the  child  of  the  age  we 
speak  of,  which  is  pre-eminently  a  formative  age;  it  even  con- 
tinues through  the  pre-pubertal  years.  The  language  making 
instinct  of  young  children  is  very  marked,  and  manifests 
itself  at  one  period  in  the  production  of  distinct  child-lan- 
guages, totally  different  from  the  vernacular,  and  sometimes 
framed  by  children  spontaneously  in  addition  to  the  learning 
of  the  mother  tongue;  and  at  a  later  epoch,  by  the  child's 
lively  interest  in  the  invention  and  use  of  multifarious  "se- 
cret languages".  Under  specially  favorable  circumstances, 
the  first  mentioned  child-language  "would  become  the  mother 
tongue  of  a  new  community  and  of  the  nation  that  would 
spring  from  it"  (Horatio  Hale,  quoted  in  "Children's  Secret 
Languages"  by  Oscar  Chrisman,  The  Child  Study  Monthly, 
Sept.,  1896).  This  wonderful  faculty  of  child-nature  as 
Chrisman  calls  it  (loc.  cit.)  ought  to  be  led  into  the  learning 
of  useful  foreign  languages  so  that  the  specific  energy  at 
our  disposal  may  not  go  to  waste.  And  as  the  young  mind  is 
still  relatively  free  from  the  conventionalisms  which  in  later 
years  beset  and  obscure  the  clear  fountain  of  the  national 
genius,  and  represents  more  purely  the  original  instincts  that 
differentiated  the  type;  and  as  the  diild  of  this  age  repeats 
the  formative  "culture  epoch"  of  his  tribe,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  he  is  ready  to  "feel  the  pulse  of  his  mother  tongue;" 
to  develop  that  "feeling  for  the  peculiarities  of  his  language 
which  enables  him  to  grasp  intuitively  the  intricacies  of  its 
idiomatic  phraseology." 

With  the  acquisition  of  the  art  of  reading  and  writing  a 
new  element  comes  to  the  assistance  of  language  study.  Vis- 
ual and  motor  impressions,  from  the  printed  page  and  from 
the  attempt  to  reproduce  it  in  writing,  are  of  inestimable 
value  for  the  awakening  of  language  concepts.     As,  in  the 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       191 

previous  period,  careful  enunciation  and  scrupulously  correct 
language  on  the  part  of  parent  and  teacher  were  powerful 
agencies  for  establishing  in  the  child's  mind  a  feeling  for 
corrections  of  expression:  now  with  the  throwing  open  to 
the  youthful  learner  the  golden  gates  of  the  vast  and  rich 
domain  of  literature,  noble  examples  of  what  there  is  best  in 
his  language  must  surround  and  inspire  him  from  the  begin- 
ning. It  is  not  necessary  here  to  dwell  at  length  on  the  prin- 
ciples which  must  guide  the  teacher  in  the  selection  of  read- 
ing matter  for  school  use;  suffice  it  to  say  that  only  such 
matter  is  permissible  which  the  child  can  learn  to  admire  and 
imitate.  The  language  of  his  immediate  surroundings  is 
now  supplemented  by  that  used,  exalted  and  made  immortal 
by  the  great  minds  of  his  race.  Again  his  native  imitative- 
ness  will  be  the  efficient  factor  in  his  appropriating  these  great 
models  for  the  sake  of  his  own  self-expression.  His  power 
of  discrimination  between  adequate  and  inadequate  expres- 
sion will  be  strengthened,  and  his  natural  tendency  towards 
the  beautiful,  the  rhythmical,  the  melodious,  will  receive  a 
new  stimulus.  Children  need  much  more  poetry  than  prose; 
and  much  more  fanciful,  rhetorical,  epic,  rhapsodical  prose 
than  common-place  narratives  and  descriptions. 

At  the  dawn  of  civilization  and  literature,  the  poet  was 
rhetor,  rhapsodist,  historian,  naturalist,  philosopher,  teacher; 
mastery  of  the  language  appeared  first  in  the  form  of  poesy. 
And  youthful  minds  to  this  day  delight  the  most  in  rhythmic 
style:  in  the  measured  step  of  the  epos  and  the  sublimely 
simple  language  of  the  classic  tale  and  folklore,  the  wild 
movement  of  the  dithyramb,  the  sweet  numbers  of  lyric 
song;  and  this  poetic  disposition,  wedded  to  their  love  of 
action,  gives  the  child  and  the  youth  that  intense  fondness  for 
dramatic  expression  so  often  observed. 

It  suggests  itself,  then,  that  young  children  should  read 
real  literature — pieces  composed  by  the  masters  of  literary 
expression ;  and  that  poetical  and  dramatic  compositions 
should  have  the  preference.  May  be  that  in  imitation  of 
these  models  the  child's  language  will  at  first  be  a  little  florid 
and  high-flown;  no  matter — ^what  is  exuberant  and  rank  in 
it,  will  soon  enough  be  trimmed  down  by  the  more  prosaic 


192      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

influences  of  later  years. 

And  let  us  not  undervalue  the  intense  enjoyment  the  child 
takes  in  humorous  things,  nor  forget  that  the  sense  of  humor 
is  not  merely  the  merry  monarch  of  idle  pastime,  but  truly  a 
promotor  of  intellectual  development.  To  appreciate  a  joke 
means  to  see  a  relation  between  ordinarily  unrelated  things. 
Children's  enjoyment  of  humor,  therefore,  has  not  only  an 
emotional  value,  giving  their  minds  an  optimistic  trend;  it 
also  illustrates  their  "proneness  to  explore  all  the  possibili- 
ties of  human  life"  (G.  Stanley  Hall  and  A  Allin,  "The 
Psychology  of  Tickling,  Laughing  and  the  Comic",  Amer. 
Journal  of  Psych.,  Oct.,  1897)  and  is  a  legitimate  outcome 
of  the  play-instinct.  It  represents  a  distinct  form  of  intel- 
lectual play,  as  valuable  for  the  evolution  of  logical  thinking 
as  the  puzzle  interest  of  which  more  will  be  said  hereafter. 
Hence  there  should  be  a  goodly  admixture  of  humorous  read- 
ing matter,  from  the  funny  nonsense  of  Mother  Goose  rhymes 
and  'Alice  in  Wonderland"  to  the  scholarly  pleasantries  of 
the  "Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table",  and  were  it  only  for 
the  purpose  of  elevating  the  children's  taste  in  this  direction, 
and  to  guard  them  from  falling  into  the  vulgar  modes  of 
thought  towards  which  reckless  witticism  often  leads. 

The  cardinal  thing  for  language  development  is  the  more 
or  less  conscious  absorption  of  the  model  of  expression  set 
before  the  children ;  and  this  absorption  will  again  be  greatly 
helped  by  committing  to  memory  a  number  of  well-chosen 
selections.    There  are,  however,  other  devices. 

In  the  first  place  let  us  remember  that  correct  speech  is 
greatly  benefited  by  perceiving  and  recalling  to  the  mind  the 
correct  form  of  the  word.  What  enunciation  is  for  oral  ex- 
pression, spelling  is  for  the  written  form  of  language.  There 
is  a  distinct  relation  between  spelling  and  grammar,  and 
error  and  muddle  in  one  will  injure  the  other. 

The  vividness  of  the  mental  images  of  word-forms  depends 
largely  upon  visual  and  motor  impressions  and  memories. 
Relatively  few  people  (often  those  that  have  a  peculiar  ear 
for  music)  are  ear-minded  and  the  ear-minded  ones  among 
the  pupils  of  an  elementary  school  receive  enough  of  the  at- 
tention due  to  their  peculiarity  if  teachers  are  careful  about 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       193 

enunciation.  But  even  they  will  have  their  word-images 
made  more  distinct  by  accompanying  motor  memories.  These 
facts  show  the  absurdity  of  the  tiresome,  monotonous,  one- 
sided sing-song  of  oral  spelling.  How  imnecessary  this  is, 
is  also  made  clear  by  the  circumstance  that  few  teachers  will 
follow  this  insipid  practice  when  they  teach  a  foreign 
language.  Who  has  ever  heard  of  a  French,  German,  Latin 
or  Greek  spelling  match?  Spelling  proper  is  of  use  mainly 
for  writing,  and  as  we  learn  to  swim  by  going  into  the 
water,  we  leam  to  spell  by  writing  words.  Constant  prac- 
tice in  writing,  first  by  copying,  and  then  by  composing. 

Copying  is  a  very  valuable  exercise  indeed.  It  goes  with- 
out saying  that  there  must  be  discretion  in  the  selection  of 
copies.  Not  everything  needs  to  be  copied ;  but  many  of  the 
selections  which  have  been  chosen  for  memorizing;  proverbs 
("epigramatic  condensations  of  applicable  wisdom  which  have 
long  served  as  a  sort  of  moral  code  of  direction  to  mankind" 
— ^Anomy.,  Frazer's  Mag. — and  which  are  admirable  examples 
of  concise  and  pregnant  expression)  ;  fables  and  the  like  may 
well  be  copied.  This  copying,  alternating  with  dictation 
exercises  covering  the  same  ground,  will  intensify  the  mental 
images  of  the  selections  and  help  memorizing  and  preserv- 
ing them.  If  more  of  intelligent  cop)nng  and  dictation  were 
practiced,  teachers  would  experience  less  difficulty  in  hav- 
ing the  pupils  copy  simple  directions  from  the  blackboard,  or 
make  notes  of  very  ordinary  explanations.  How  can  a  child 
whose  mental  images  of  the  words  and  forms  of  his  language 
are  indistinct,  confused,  and  fragmentary,  be  expected  to 
use  this  language  with  an  adequate  degree  of  correctness? 

Spelling  and  grammar  go  hand  in  hand  in  many  grammati- 
cal forms.  The  tendency  of  the  child  to  build  words  and 
forms  by  analogy  will  here  again  be  helpful,  and  the  lists  of 
words  and  inflections  based  upon  common  type-forms  can  be 
made  to  the  delight  of  the  children.  It  is  true  that  many  forms 
appear  arbitrary  and  will  seem  to  defy  attempts  at  analogical 
classification.  But,  if  introduced  as  new  types,  as  suggested 
before,  children  of  this  age  will,  as  a  rule,  accept  them  un- 
questioningly.  Reference  is  here  made  not  only  to  spelling 
lists  as  such,  but  to  lists  which  have  a  grammatical  signifi- 


194      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

cance.     Thus,  singulars  and  plurals  may  be  contrasted,  in 
lists  somewhat  like  these; 


First  Type: 

father 

fathers 

table 

tables 

Second  Type: 

dish 

dishes 

fox 

foxes 

Third  Type: 

man 

men 

woman 

women,  etc. 

In  a  similar  manner,  lists  of  comparatives  and  superlatives, 
of  possessive  cases,  etc.,  may  be  prepared.  Verb  forms  can  be 
tabulated  thus: 


First  Tjrpe :      I  praise, 
I  love, 
I  hate. 

Second  T5T)e:  I  regret, 
I  shun. 

Third  Type:  I  bend, 
I  send. 


I  praised, 
I  loved, 
I  hated, 
i  regretted, 
I  shunned, 
I  bent, 
I  sent, 


I  am  praised. 
I  am  loved. 
I  am  hated,  etc. 
I  am  regretted. 
I  am  shunned,  etc 
I  am  bent. 
I  am  sent,  etc. 


and  so  on. 

Such  lists  ought  to  be  copied  in  notebooks  kept  especially 
for  this  purpose,  and  added  to  as  occasion  suggests.  It  need 
hardly  be  said  that  only  such  words  must  be  given  a  place  on 
these  "growing"  lists  whose  meaning  and  use  is  satisfactorily 
understood ;  in  other  words  such  that  form  the  stock  vocab- 
ulary of  the  children,  and  have  been  frequently  read  and 
used  by  them. 

Some  general  notions  of  name-words  (nouns),  words  de- 
noting quality  (adjectives),  and  words  denoting  action 
(verbs)  will  have  sprung  up  in  the  minds  of  the  children  by 
this  time,  under  the  careful  guidance  of  the  teacher.  Exer- 
cises in  contrasting  words  like  "pro-duce"  (verb)  and 
"prod-uce"  (noun)  in  sentences  and  then  tabulating  them 
will  throw  the  difference  of  their  respective  functions  into 
bold  relief.  But  care  must  be  taken  not  to  make  these  notions 
formal  or  inelastic;  no  definition  or  general  rule  should  be 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       195 

demanded,  the  less  as  by  such  crude  definitions  as  were  al- 
luded to  before,  the  children  would  only  learn  to  recognize 
some  nouns,  verbs  and  adjectives,  but  by  no  means  all.  The 
greater  number  of  verbs,  e.  g.,  they  have  in  daily  use  would 
thus  escape  recognition.  True,  there  will  perhaps  always  be 
a  small  percentage  of  precocious  or  otherwise  intellectually 
exceptional  children  in  a  class;  if  these  do  see  relations  and 
can  be  helped  to  derive  a  general  principle  from  their  observa- 
tions and  concrete  exercises,  well  enough  for  them ;  they  must 
not  be  repressed.  But  their  standard  cannot  be  the  class 
standard.  The  aim  at  this  stage  can  only  be  to  establish 
good  habits  of  expression,  to  take  advantage  of  the  child's  nat- 
ural tendency  to  analogize,  and  to  give  their  incipient  ability 
to  discern  simple  relations,  sufficient  stimulus. 

As  the  greatest  effort  will  be  made  in  the  direction  of  the 
greatest  interest,  we  should  not  overlook  the  intense  delight 
which  children  take  in  riddles  and  puzzles  of  all  kinds. 
What  is  presented  to  them  in  puzzle  form  is  sure  to  arouse 
at  once  their  alert  attention.  Lindley's  study  of  puzzles  (loc. 
cit.)  shows  that  "the  riddle  interest  proper,  beginning  at  4, 
culminates  at  8,  9  and  10.  Language  puzzles  exclusive  of 
riddles  are  most  in  favor  from  12  to  15."  Let  us  mark  the 
culmination  periods  which  coincide  with  the  critical  periods 
previously  pointed  out.  The  puzzle  interest  should  certainly 
be  utilized  in  language  teaching. 

It  is  evident  that  many  riddles  which  deal  with  letters 
and  syllables,  can  be  made  helpful  in  the  teaching  of  spell- 
ing. Many  riddles,  however,  describe  "the  object  in  question 
in  a  paradoxical  or  ambiguous  way"  (Lindley).  This  sug- 
gests the  use  of  the  riddle  as  a  device  to  detect  the  character 
of  subject,  object  and  predicate.  Again  care  must  be  taken 
to  avoid  formal  drill  which  would  only  kill  the  interest  just 
kindled  and  serve  no  purpose.  Below  the  tenth  year,  when 
children  are  most  interested  in  what  Lindley  calls  the  rid- 
dle proper,  namely  a  simple  question  (as:  Lives  without 
a  body,  hears  without  ears,  speaks  without  mouth,  to  which 
air  alone  gives  birth;  what  is  it? — Echo),  this  exercise  may 
simply  serve  to  loosen  the  children's  intellectual  joints,  as  it 
were,  and  prepare  them  for  the  more  trying  tasks  of  the  next 


196      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

period. 

The  tenth  year  is  again  the  turning  point.  From  now  on 
thru  the  pre-pubertal  period  (a  period  of  uncertain  length, 
differing  in  the  two  sexes  and  in  individuals)  the  interest  in 
the  other  classes  of  language  puzzles  is  marked.  These  are 
really  nothing  else  than  more  elaborate  riddles.  Lindley 
enumerates  the  rebus,  the  conundrum,  the  enigma,  the  cha- 
rade (also  in  its  dramatic  form) ;  word  squares,  diamonds, 
etc.;  the  acrostic;  logogram,  metagram,  decapitations,  cur- 
tailments, retailments,  hidden  words,  and  the  like.  "Alto- 
gether there  are  more  than  30  species  of  language  and  word 
puzzles.  It  is  obvious  that  many  of  these  not  only  challenge 
ingenuity  and  involve  the  logical  processes,  but  also  have 
points  as  information  tests."  It  would  be  a  welcome  under- 
taking if  someone  would  collect  puzzles,  and  grade  and  ar- 
range them  in  their  bearings  upon  different  branches  of  in- 
struction; and  with  regard  to  language  training  as  such,  as 
orthographical,  word  building,  subject,  object  and  predicate 
puzzles,  etc.  The  skillful  teacher  will  soon  find  a  way  to 
make  good  use  of  them. 

For  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  educational  value  of 
puzzles  Lindley's  article  should  be  consulted.  The  follow- 
ing quotations  must  suffice  to  illustrate  the  bearing  of  this 
intellectual  play  upon  mental  development  of  children  ap- 
proaching the  most  critical  period  of  their  life.  "It  is  fair 
to  presume  a  priori  that  the  systems  of  cortical  association 
fibres  now  begin  to  develop  more  rapidly.  .  .  .  Experi- 
mental data  concerning  growth  of  reasoning  power  .  .  . 
furnish  corroboration  for  the  above  neurological  assumption. 

.  .  .  May  not  this  pre-pubertal  intellectual  play  ac- 
tivity bear  direct  propaedeutic  relations  to  adolescence?  The 
resulting  flexibility  of  mind,  due  to  the  breaking  up  of  nar- 
row modes  of  thought,  and  the  accompanying  increment  of 
gain  in  strength  and  poise  of  intellect  and  will,  may  help 
somewhat  to  mitigate  the  dangers  of  the  'new  birth'." 

By  working  enthusiastically  over  puzzles  the  child's  abil- 
ity to  grasp  relations  quickly,  to  reason  logically,  is  greatly 
strengthened,  and  he  becomes  ready  for  formal  instruction. 
We  are  reminded  by  Lindley  that  twelve  is  the  age  when 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       197 

Rousseau  would  have  Emile,  after  years  of  freedom  from 
restraint,  placed  under  formal  tuition. 

Lindley's  study  also  demonstrates  that  even  in  this  point 
the  development  of  the  child  is  parallel  to  that  of  the  race. 
Riddles  have  played  an  important  role  in  the  childhood  of 
mankind,  at  a  time  preceding  intellectual  maturity.  "The 
making  of  riddles,"  says  Taylor  (Primitive  Culture,  I) 
"requires  a  fair  power  of  ideal  comparison,  and  knowledge 
must  have  made  considerable  advance  before  the  process  could 
become  so  familiar  as  to  fall  from  earnest  into  sport."  Let 
us  be  reminded  of  the  riddle  of  the  sphinx;  of  the  part 
riddles  play  in  Fairy  Tales;  and  that  the  rebus  is  perhaps 
only  a  degenerated  form  of  picture  writing  and  hieroglyphics. 

The  pupils  will  now  be  ready  to  discern  the  grammatical 
relations  of  words  in  a  sentence.  The  sentence  will  become 
the  starting  point  of  formal  grammatical  instruction.  Wheth- 
er it  is  best,  as  Franz  Kern  suggests,  to  begin  with  the  finite 
verb,  as  containing  the  essential  elements  of  the  sentence, 
the  sentence  with  its  subject,  predicate,  object  and  other  mod- 
ifiers, will  form  a  firm  basis  of  elementary  analysis.  This 
analysis  must  remain  general  at  this  stage,  and  omit  con- 
fusing details.  Observations  will  illustrate  to  the  child  the 
simple  relations  of  these  parts  of  the  sentence,  and  of  sub- 
stantive, adjectival,  adverbial,  and  verbal  elements  to  one 
another,  without  the  need  of  formal  definitions. 

It  is  open  to  discussion  whether  diagramming  the  sentence 
will  contribute  much  to  the  clearness  of  its  cwiception.  If 
there  were  a  way — interesting  to  the  children  as  well  as 
illustrating  the  organic  facts  of  the  sentence — the  weight  of 
the  argument  would  be  in  favor  of  the  diagrammatic  meth- 
od. But  the  ordinary  diagram  forms  are  utterly  unsatis- 
factory ;  they  ignore  the  evolution  of  the  thought  as  expressed 
in  the  sentence ;  they  regard  the  latter  from  the  standpoint  of 
formal  grammar — that  is,  as  "a  thing  dead  and  static,  a  man- 
ufacture instead  of  a  growth"  (Gertrude  Buck,  "The  Sen- 
tence Diagram",  Educ.  Rev.,  Mar.,  1897).  Miss  Buck  re- 
minds us  of  the  evolution  of  the  sentence,  from  the  inter- 
jectional  expression  of  a  homogeneous  feeling  (the  single 
word  of  the  child  is  more  or  less  interjectional  in  character, 


198      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

at  any  rate,  stands  epigrammatically  for  the  expression  of  the 
entire  thought)  to  a  differentiated,  tho  stenographic  assertion 
of  an  empirical  judgment  that  has  crystallized  into  a  logical 
concept;  and  she  suggests  a  tree-shaped  diagram.  It  is 
well  to  consult  the  writings  of  Franz  Kern  on  the  subject 
of  sentence  analysis  ("Die  deutsche  Satzlehre,"  Berlin,  1883  ; 
"Zur  Methodik  des  deutschen  Unterrichts,"  1883;  "Zustand 
und  Gegenstand",  1886)  ;  he  was  the  first  to  demonstrate 
the  untenability  of  the  copula-idea.  However,  it  may  be 
best  to  postpone  diagramming  which  presupposes  a  good  deal 
of  exact  discrimination,  till  the  time  of  secondary  instruc- 
tion; for  the  child's  standard  of  exactness  is  considerably 
lower  than  the  adult's  and  can  be  prematurely  advanced  only 
at  an  expense  of  time  and  energy  better  employed  in  other 
directions. 

The  so-called  compound  sentence  will  hardly  need  special 
treatment  at  this  stage ;  a  recognition  of  the  co-ordinated  rela- 
tionship of  parts  found  there  will  suffice.  The  complex 
sentence  can  be  treated  as  what  it  really  is,  viz.,  an  expanded 
simple  sentence,  the  expansion  being  produced  by  substitut- 
ing "dependent"  sentences  (clauses)  for  single  words  or 
phrases.  Of  course,  it  is  not  strictly  true  that  such  clauses 
were  consciously  substituted  by  the  writer  or  speaker;  the 
process  is  rather  this,  that  a  clause  is  used  when  a  single 
word  or  phrase  would  be  inadequate. 

It  may  be  added  that  the  common  practice  to  dissect  selec- 
tions from  literature  by  so-called  analysis,  deserves  to  be  de- 
nounced as  truly  barbaric;  selections  should  be  used  as  illus- 
trations only.  The  children's  own  compositions  will  furnish 
material  for  analytic  treatment,  the  main  function  of  which 
is  to  demonstrate  the  need  of  well  connected  and  precise 
expression. 

To  recapitulate:  at  this  stage  of  logical  development  the 
child  may  be  expected  to  discriminate  in  a  general  way,  be- 
tween subject,  predicate,  object  and  modifiers;  and  also  to 
recognize  (not  define)  nouns,  pronouns,  verbs  adjectives, 
adverbs,  and  perhaps  prepositions  and  conjunctions.  If  there 
should  be  any  hesitation  in  anyone's  mind  as  to  the  possibility 
of  recognizing  parts  of  speech  without  defining  them,  let  him 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       199 

be  reminded  that  he  knows  and  recognizes  a  great  many 
things  without  being  conscious  of  their  definitions,  or  ever 
having  defined  them;  and  he  would  often  be  very  slow  in 
recognizing  an  object  from  its  definition.  In  thinking  of 
a  table,  e.  g.,  is  Webster's  definition  of  this  useful  piece  of 
furniture  present  to  his  mind,  or  does  he  know  it  at  all? 
Or  would  the  following  definition  taken  from  the  Standard 
Dictionary:  "A  sliding  receptacle,  as  in  a  cabinet,  bureau, 
table,  chest,  bench,  or  the  like,  for  containing  clothing,  pa- 
pers, valuables,  etc." — help  him  materially  to  recognize  a 
common  drawer?  Why  should  it  be  otherwise  in  grammar? 
Definitions  are  the  climax  of  cognition — the  final  label  which 
a  logical  mind  affixes  to  a  concept;  but  the  principal  condi- 
tion of  correct  conception  is  correct  perception,  whether  de- 
fining words  are  used  as  an  additional  description  or  not. 

If  further  analysis  should  be  deemed  desirable,  the  con- 
struction of  sentences  may  be  represented  in  the  following 
manner  :* 

Signify  principal  statements  by  capital  letters,  in  their  nat- 
ural series,  e.  g. 

"An  inventor  is  rarely  a  scholar"  =  A. 

"It  was  a  consoling  dream;  but  it  was  only  a  dream"  = 
A;  B. 

Or  in  case  one  statement  is  parenthetically  enclosed  in  an- 
other : 

"Rarely  (for  invention  presupposes  technical  skill)  is  an 
inventor  a  scholar"  =  A  (B)  A. 

Sentences  like  the  following  should  be  allowed  to  pass  as 
simple  sentences  (with  more  than  one  subject,  predicate,  or 
object) : 

"My  sister  and  her  friend  met  me  at  the  gate;  we  took  a 
walk  and  enjoyed  ourselves"  =  A;  B. 

Only  when  there  can  be  no  mistake  about  several  sentences 
having  been  compounded  or  contracted  into  one,  may  the 
sentence  figure  assume  this  form: 


♦This  method,  in  its  essential  features,  tho  it  appears  here 
in  a  somewhat  modified  form,  has  been  suggested  by  J.  WoUin- 
ger,  "Lehrbuch  des  gesammten  Sprachunterrichts." 


200      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

"The  little  girl  had  brown  eyes  and  black  hair,  and  was 
clever  and  courageous"  =  A+B. 

In  complex  sentences,  the  principal  statement  is  treated  as 
the  original  simple  sentence;  the  dependent  clauses  are  de- 
noted thus: 

( 1 )  Subject  clauses  =  s ;  abbreviated,  =  sb : 
"Whoever  (or  He  who)  finds  the  book  should  bring 

it  to  me"  =  s,  A. 
"To  die  for  one's  country  is  an  honor"  =  sb,  A;  also 
in  this  form:  "It  is  an  honor  to  die  for  one's  coun- 
try" =  A,  sb. 

(2)  Object  clauses  =  o,  or  ob: 

"He  says  that  he  never  saw  anything  like  it"  =  A,  o. 
"The  sick  desire  to  be  cured"  (that  they  be  cured) 
=  A,  ob. 

(3)  Predicate  clauses  =  p: 

"He  is  not  what  he  seems"  =  A,  p. 

(4)  Attributive  clauses  =  a: 

"A  friend  who  remains  true  in  affliction  is  a  great 
blessing"  =  A,  a,  A 

(5)  Adverbial  clauses  =  x: 

"When  spring  awakens  the  flowers,  my  heart,  too, 
feels  a  new  power  rising  into  existence"  =  x,  A. 

If  there  are  any  clauses  dependent  upon  clauses,  we  may 
consider  these  as  clauses  of  the  second  degree,  and  designate 
them  respectively  s^,  o^,  p^,  a^,  x^.  In  the  same  way  we  may 
have,  in  still  more  complicated  constructions,  clauses  of  the 
third  and  even  of  the  fourth  degree.  The  following  quota- 
tion from  Webster,  analyzed  by  this  method,  will  illustrate 
the  process: 

"(These  few  and  scattered  historical  notices  of  important 
inventions  have  been  introduced  only  for  the  purpose  of  sug- 
gesting) =  A,  xb  (that  there  is  much)  =0^  (which  is  both 
curious  and  instructive  in  the  history  of  mechanics:)  =  a' 
(and)  =  +  (that  many  things)=  o*  (which  to  us,  in  our 
state  of  knowledge,  seem  so  obvious)  =  a'  (that  we  would 
think)  =  X*  (they  would  at  once  force  themselves  on  men's 
adoption )=o*  (have,  nevertheless,  been  accomplished  slowly, 
and  by  painful  efforts.)"  =  o*. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      201 

A,  xb,  o*,  a*:  +  o*,  a*,  x*,  o*,  o*. 

It  will  be  readily  seen  that  this  method  of  analysis  is  very 
different  from  the  ordinary  mechanical  and  barbaric  way;  it 
does  not  dissect,  but  goes  right  to  the  core  of  sentence  compo- 
sition and  touches  upon  style  as  well.  It  has  enough  of  the 
puzzle  quality  to  arouse  the  intense  interest  of  the  pupils  who 
will  delight  in  exercises  of  transposition,  re-arrangement,  and 
change  of  expressions,  such  as  the  following: 

"That  it  is  wise  to  curb  our  passions  nobody  will  deny" 
=  o,  sb^,  A.    Make  it  A,  o,  sb^ ;  or  A,  o. 

"Iron  is  found  in  almost  every  country.  Nowhere  it  occurs 
pure.  Most  of  our  tools  are  made  of  iron."  How  can  these 
three  statements  be  combined  in  one  sentence  ?  Or,  make  it : 
A,  a  +  a,  A. 

This  kind  of  analysis  may  even  with  profit  be  extended  to 
the  literature  read,  and  will  serve  to  make  the  pupils  more 
appreciative  of  the  peculiar  style  and  manner  of  an  author; 
but  it  is  well  to  have  it  understood  by  them  from  the  outset, 
not  only  that  some  constructions  permit  of  different  interpre- 
tations, but  also  that  every  sentence  cannot  be  reduced  to  a 
formula;  that  genius  defies  and  transcends  mechanism  and 
rule.  This  work  will  call  forth  much  ingenuity,  if  the  teach- 
er is  wise  enough  not  to  present  it  in  the  form  of  tasks,  but 
as  literary  puzzles  and  pastime. 

Devices  like  the  ones  in  the  foregoing  will  greatly  facili- 
tate the  criticisms  of  the  children's  own  language,  especially 
in  compositions,  by  the  instructor.  For  constant  practice  in 
self-expression  following  the  study  of  great  models,  will  after 
all  be  the  cardinal  method  of  developing  the  language  of  the 
child.  It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  it  cannot  be  the  aim 
of  elementary  instruction  to  appeal  to  the  higher  logical  fac- 
ulties of  the  mind,  or  to  teach  grammar  as  such;  training  of 
this  kind  belongs  properly  to  the  next  higher  stage,  that  of 
secondary  or  adolescent  education,  when  the  juvenile  mind 
becomes  conscious  of  itself.  In  the  pre-adolescent  period  all 
exercise  should  be  directed  to  the  development  of  the  power  of 
self -expression,  and  great  caution  must  be  employed  lest  self- 
consciousness  be  awakened  prematurely,  as  that  would  destroy 
the  child's  freedom  and  naturalness  before  he  has  acquired 


202      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

the  power  to  reason  out  his  way  for  himself  and  to  become  in- 
dependent. The  well  known  anecdote  of  the  centipede  will 
furnish  a  valuable  lesson  in  this  connection. 

The  term  "self -expression",  in  speaking  of  the  children's 
compositions,  has  been  used  with  a  purpose.  Nothing  affords 
a  sadder  spectacle  than  what  is  ordinarily  understood  by 
essay-writing  in  schools — a  painful  struggling  with  foreign, 
undigested  matter,  mere  word-play,  illuminated  now  and 
then  by  borrowed  fireworks  of  other  people's  brilliancy.  It  is 
the  very  training  school  of  cant.  Children  should  be  encour- 
aged to  write  only  of  what  they  have  themselves  experienced, 
either  in  the  world  of  reality  or  emotionally.  They  should 
be  led  to  express  themselves — their  own  knowledge,  their 
own  thoughts,  their  own  feelings,  be  they  ever  so  crude  and 
simple ;  and  not  second  hand  thoughts  and  emotions  to  make 
a  false  show.  When  once  the  child  knows  that  nothing  but 
his  own  self  is  wanted  and  appreciated,  his  language  will 
flow  without  restraint,  and  he  will  grope  his  way,  as  it  were, 
thru  the  intricacies  of  grammar.  Grammar  is,  to  put  it  in 
another  form,  the  law  that  has,  unconsciously  to  themselves, 
governed  the  thought  of  human  beings  when  it  sought  ex- 
pression; language  is  thought  materialized.  Make,  there- 
fore, the  child  perceive  accurately,  think  clearly,  and  feel 
distinctly,  and  his  expression  will  become  accurate,  clear  and 
distinct,  grammar  will  take  care  of  itself  as  it  did  in  the  great 
minds  of  the  race  from  whose  immortal  creations  we  have 
abstracted  those  rules  of  expression  which  in  them  were  liv- 
ing forces.  The  language  of  children  is  an  unmistakable  in- 
dex of  their  training  and  education  in  general,  or  else  of  their 
native  genius,  but  rarely  of  the  amount  of  grammar  they 
have  absorbed. 

Special  exercises  need  not  be  neglected,  but  they  should  be 
concrete  rather  than  formal.  If  you  wish  to  practice  plurals 
you  may  have  the  pupils  write  statements  which  are  true 
of  all  flowers  after  they  have  studied  one ;  or  all  metals  af- 
ter they  have  worked  with  one  or  the  other.  And  if  you  think 
practice  in  comparing  adjectives  is  desirable,  let  them  com- 
pare real  things  with  which  they  are  familiar,  as  in  a  nature 
lesson.     But  avoid  it  as  much  as  possible — and  that  can  be 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       203 

done  even  when  tables  are  prepared  as  described  before — to 
make  the  exercise  smack  of  formal  grammar.  It  is  POWER 
rather  than  reflection  for  which  we  must  strive.  List-mak- 
ing will,  as  a  rule,  follow,  not  precede,  these  composition 
exercises. 

Minds  of  an  elementar>',  or  of  a  non-philological  stamp, 
can  perhaps  never  go  beyond  the  limit  of  what  has  been  so  far 
suggested.  Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves  about  the  logical 
capacities  of  perhaps  a  majority,  at  least  in  this  particular  line 
of  mental  activity.  Abstract  reasoning  is  not  a  quality  of 
the  multitude;  few  will  assimilate  more  than  the  rudiments 
of  science,  few  will  ever  assume  a  scientific  attitude.  It  would 
be  unjust,  however,  to  brand  all  unscientific  or  non-philo- 
logical minds  with  the  epithet  "inferior".  Granted  there  are 
only  too  many  who  will  forever  remain  on  a  lower  plane  of 
intellectuality;  but  a  large  number  whose  scientific,  or  spe- 
cificially  philological  accomplishments  can  be  but  elementary, 
will  display  superior  ability  in  other  lines  of  human  activity. 
Elsewhere  ("The  Common  School  and  the  New  Education," 
C.  W.  Bardeen,  Syracuse,  1897,  P-  7).  the  writer  has  sug- 
gested a  differentiation  of  school  instruction  in  the  pre- 
pubertal years;  and  such  differentiation  may  be  carried  on 
and  further  specialized  in  adolescent  (secondary)  education 
by  establishing  a  series  of  co-ordinated  High  School  courses 
which  would  correspond  to  the  different  view-points  of  indi- 
vidual groups  of  adolescent  students.  In  a  crude  way,  sec- 
ondary differentiation  has  already  been  instituted,  tho  with 
this  principal  defect  that  only  those  pupils  who  have  pre- 
viously shown  themselves  philologically  and  mathematically 
talented,  find  admission  while  all  the  rest  are  excluded,  may 
their  otherwise  superior  gifts  make  them  ever  so  capable  of 
higher  training  if  only  the  proper  course  were  provided  for 
them. 

Grammar,  then,  in  its  function  as  elementary  logic,  is  not  a 
discipline  suited  for  all;  but  there  will  always  be  a  certain 
percentage  of  pupils  in  each  class  that  can  be  taxed  higher 
in  exercises  employing  the  logical  faculties.  To  them  the 
opportunity  for  such  practice  must  not  be  denied,  and  while 
we  must  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  worried  or  disgusted  by 


204      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

the  hazy  notions  of  the  non-abstractive  children  we  may  de- 
mand dose  attention  and  exact  work  from  those  that  are 
capable  of  it.  Adjustment  to  different  needs  or  individuali- 
zation in  class  work,  must  be  the  watchword. 

As  indicated  in  the  beginning,  the  study  of  foreign 
languages  will  prove  to  be  of  great  assistance  in  language 
work.  The  harder  tasks  may  always  be  assigned  to  the  so- 
called  brighter  pupils  (only  so-called,  as  this  work  which 
has  hitherto  been  the  main  criterion  of  ability  forms  their 
specialty)  who  will  be  the  leaders  in  analysis,  in  discover- 
ing relations  and  laws;  the  others  being  the  followers,  the 
imitators,  taking  the  laws  for  granted  and  meekly  obeying 
them  as  well  as  they  can.  But  even  this  latter  category  will 
perhaps  gain  a  clearer  insight  into  grammatical  facts  from 
studying  the  completer  forms  and  more  intelligible  construc- 
tions of  German  and  Latin. 

The  child  may  fitly  be  allowed  to  profit  by  the  experience 
of  the  race  here  as  in  other  respects.  It  has  been  shown  that 
in  the  development  of  the  language  of  the  child,  three  stages 
may  be  distinguished:  his  first  language  is  the  primitive 
language  of  the  species;  the  second  represents  the  race 
language;  the  third  the  vernacular  (Winfield  S.  Hall,  "The 
First  500  Days  of  a  Child's  Life",  Child-Study  Monthly, 
March,  1897).  Highly  inflected  languages  are  the  fore- 
runners of  the  simpler  which  more  and  more  discard  the 
"scaffolding  of  the  structure"  with  the  aid  of  which  the 
human  mind  created  for  itself  a  means  of  adequate  expres- 
sion (Cf.  Edm.  Noble,  "The  Principle  of  Economy  in  Evo- 
lution", Popular  Science  Monthly,  July,  1897). 

To  illustrate  the  point  in  question,  attention  may  be  called 
to  the  utter  inadequacy  of  the  ordinary  definitions  of  subject 
and  predicate.  Swinton's  (loc.  cit.  p.  205)  definition  is: 
"The  subject  names  that  of  which  something  is  thought;  the 
predicate  tells  what  is  thought."  Metcalf's  (loc.  cit.  p. 
15)  says:  "The  part  of  the  sentence  which  represents  the 
thing  of  which  something  is  said,  is  the  subject;  the  part  of 
a  sentence  which  represents  what  is  said  of  the  thing  named 
by  the  subject,  is  the  predicate."  Maxwell's:  "The  subject, — 
the  word  or  words  denoting  that  about  which  s(Mnething  is 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       205 

said ;  the  predicate, — expressing  what  is  said  of  the  thing  de- 
noted by  the  subject."  Even  a  good  mind  will  find  it  some- 
what puzzling  to  get  the  sense  of  these  stilted  and  labored 
explanations;  the  majority  will  certainly  fail  to  recognize 
subjective  and  predicative  relations  in  even  a  simple  sentence, 
from  studying  these  definitions  which  vainly  attempt  to  give 
an  elementary,  yet  at  the  same  time  highly  logical  form  to 
a  concept  which  cannot  be  understood  in  its  abstract  fulness 
by  children  whose  minds  are  as  yet  hedged  in  by  a  wilderness 
of  concrete  objects.  But  how  will  anyone  succeed  in  sifting 
out  the  grammatical  subject  and  predicate,  following  the 
above  directions,  from  the  following,  not  very  complex  pe- 
riod taken  from  "Black  Beauty":  "We  saw  a  light  at  the 
hall  door  and  at  the  upper  windows,  and  as  we  came  up. 
Mistress  ran  out  saying,  'Are  you  really  safe,  my  dear?'  "  etc. 
Nine  out  of  ten  will  point  out  the  light,  or  being  safe,  or 
almost  any  other  word,  as  the  things  "about  which  some- 
thing is  said,"  rather  than  the  apparently  insignificant  words, 
"we"  and  "Mistress".  And  what  will  impress  the  children  to 
be  the  "main  thought"  ?  Will  Swinton's  definition  help  them 
to  recognize  the  predication? 

As  has  been  before  suggested  in  these  pages,  an  apprecia- 
tion of  grammatical  relation  cannot  be  developed  in  children 
by  abstract  definitions  and  formal  drill.  But  let  us  suppose 
that  the  pupils  have  had  plenty  of  exercises  with  puzzles  as 
described  before,  and  that  close  questioning  on  reading  lessons 
has  enabled  them  to  grasp  readily  the  meaning  of  what  they 
read,  and  has  made  them  appreciative  of  the  value  of  concise 
and  coherent  expression.  Then  the  component  parts  of  the 
sentences  will  stand  out  to  them  in  clear  relief,  even  without 
being  labeled ;  and  exercises  in  substituting  synonyms  and 
antonyms  for  the  words  and  phrases  used  in  the  text,  and  in 
compositions,  so  as  to  modify  or  entirely  change  the  original 
meaning,  will  further  prepare  them  for  understanding  sen- 
tence-construction. The  substitution  exercises  will  lead  up 
to  sentence-building,  still  preparatory  to  more  formal  drill. 
The  idea  of  subjectivity  will  be  fitly  introduced  by  a 
clearer  conception  of  substantivity,  at  least  in  a  concrete  way. 
To  this  the  reading  of  German  text  will  help :  all  nouns,  or 


2o6      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

words  used  substantively,  beginning  with  capitals  in  that 
language.  By  the  assistance  of  this  device,  children  will  soon 
learn  to  distinguish  nouns  from  the  other  parts  of  speech, 
even  tho  they  would  not  be  able  to  give  or  understand  a  sat- 
isfactory definition.  Thru  the  German  and  later  on  thru  the 
Latin,  the  idea  of  case  will  come  naturally  to  the  child,  and 
frequent  exercises  (in  sentences)  will  fix  the  concept  of  case 
relation  in  his  mind.  Then  there  will  come  a  time  when  it 
will  dawn  upon  the  child  that  while  other  cases  are  irregu- 
larly represented,  there  occurs  in  every  sentence  some  sub- 
stantive word  in  the  nominative  case,  to  which  the  rest  of  the 
sentence  stands  in  a  relation  of  grammatical  dependence.  The 
nominative  functions  will  reveal  the  idea  of  subject  in  distinc- 
tion from  the  predication,  not  vice- versa,  as  is  the  course 
taken  by  most  grammars  for  schools.  In  a  similar  manner, 
which  may  be  called  the  method  of  observation  and  experi- 
ment, the  object  will  be  recognized  no  matter  whether  it  be 
an  accusative,  dative,  or  genitive  object.  The  study  of 
French  will  be  found  less  helpful  in  this  connection  than 
German  and  Latin,  as  it  is  as  caseless  as  in  English. 

When  the  time  arrives  for  crystallizing  the  young  student's 
grammatical  experience  relative  to  the  elements  of  a  sentence, 
in  the  form  of  definitions,  the  following  which  are  here 
tentatively  suggested  may  be  found  convenient: 

( 1 )  The  nominative  case  in  a  sentence  names  that  which 
is  the  subject,  i.  e.  the  cause,  or  agent,  of  some  action.  It  is 
called  the  SUBJECT.  In  the  sentences  expressing  a  quality, 
condition,  or  state,  the  nominative,  or  Subject,  names  that  of 
which  the  quality,  condition,  or  state,  is  asserted. 

(2)  The  action  performed  by  the  Subject,  or  the  quality 
or  state,  which  is  asserted  of  the  Subject,  is  called  the  Predi- 
cate of  the  sentence. 

The  function  of  Object,  of  activity  and  passivity,  etc.,  can 
be  deduced  from  these  fundamental  definitions  without  much 
difficulty. 

There  is  a  class  of  sentences  which  are  not  infrequently  a 
source  of  trouble  to  a  teacher  and  learner.  The  author  refers 
to  those  expressing  a  quality,  etc.,  or  as  Maxwell  puts  it  in  his 
"Advanced  Lessons  in  English  Grammar",  those  containing 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       207 

"verbs  of  incomplete  predication"  whose  "complement  is 
either  an  adjective  modifying  the  subject,  or  a  noun  or  pro- 
noun denoting  the  same  person  or  thing  as  the  subject."  The 
predicate  noun,  pronoun,  or  adjective  is  easily  misunderstood 
by  inexperienced  students  and  confused  with  the  object  of  a 
transitive  verb.  It  will  elucidate  the  relation  of  Subject  and 
Predicate  in  these  expressions  and  throw  the  functions  of  the 
so-called  "copula"  into  stronger  relief  if  we  conceive  of  these 
sentences  as  equations  either  actual  or  apparent,  or  condi- 
tional. Subject  and  Predicate  are  then  the  terms  or  members 
of  the  equation,  and  the  "copula"  represents  the  sign  of  equa- 
tian.    Thus : 

"The  man  is  a  gentleman",  means: 

The  man  =  a  gentleman. 

"Anna  seems  sick"  means: 

Anna  =  a  sick  person  (in  appearance). 

"The  soldier  lay  lifeless  but  beautiful"  means: 

The  soldier  =  a  lifeless  but  beautiful  form  (the  verb  re- 
ferring at  the  same  time  to  his  position,  and  to  past  time). 

In  this  way  the  possibility  of  confusion  seems  eliminated, 
and  a  rational  conception  oiF  the  true  significance  of  the  ex- 
pression made  possible.  In  highly  inflected  languages  the 
nouns,  pronouns,  and  adjectives  of  the  predication  signify  the 
equation  character  of  the  expression  by  agreeing  with  the 
subject  in  gender,  number  and  case. 

Instruction  in  the  correct  use  of  English  should,  for  rea- 
sons which  are  apparent  from  the  foregoing  statements,  be 
strictly  correlated  to  that  of  the  foreign  languages,  and  not  so 
much  by  way  of  parallelism  as  of  sequence,  so  that  they  may 
be  mutually  helpful,  and  that  each  may  supply  what  is  wanted 
in  the  other.  Latin,  with  its  stricter  rules  and  completer 
forms,  requires  more  concentration  than  even  German  does, 
and  while  some  knowledge  of  it  will  prove  helpful  to  all  (Cf. 
the  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Ten  on  Secondary  School 
Studies,  N.  E.  A.),  it  will  serve  as  a  touchstone  of  the  power 
of  abstract  reasoning,  and  assist  the  teacher  in  recognizing 
those  who  are  capable  of  special  scientific  study  of  a  higher 
order.  Its  study  is  fitly  introduced  towards  the  close  of  the 
pre-pubertal  period,  or  right  at,  or  shortly  after  pubescence, 


2o8       THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

when  the  dawn  of  true  reasoning  sets  in,  when  the  new  forces 
manifest  themselves  vigorously  and  give  a  more  pronouncedly 
individual  character  to  each  child. 

The  framing  of  definitions  of  the  parts  of  speech,  and 
formal  exercises  in  etymology  and  syntax,  with  which  ordi- 
nary grammar  instruction  used  to  begin,  may  be  legitimately 
reserved  for  secondary  or  even  college  courses.  Thus,  the 
accepted  order  of  grammar  teaching  may  have  to  be  altogether 
reversed  to  meet  the  demands  of  a  better  psychological  appre- 
ciation of  the  child's  mental  development. 

The  writer  is  not  ignorant  of  the  many  intelligent  attempts 
which  have  been  made  to  place  language  instruction  upon  a 
more  rational  basis.  He  knows  that  many  teachers  are  now 
following  progressive  lines  in  this  branch,  and  he  has  exam- 
ined many  new  language  books  which,  in  a  large  measure, 
recognize  the  facts  and  principles  here  set  forth.  But  most 
of  even  the  more  meritorious  ones  of  these  books  contain  not 
only  too  much  matter  (and  some  utterly  superfluous  things, 
such  as  pedantic  distinction  between  "statement  and  ques- 
tions") but  too  many,  and  often  ill-expressed  definitions.  And 
the  order  in  which  the  different  topics  are  introduced  is  rarely 
even  approximately  commensurate  to  the  different  stages  of 
child  development.  It  may  recommend  itself  to  the  compe- 
tent teacher  to  place  no  text-book  at  all  into  the  hands  of  the 
pupils,  but  to  adapt  the  instruction  to  the  varying  needs  and 
opportunities. 

No  attempt  is  here  made  to  outline  a  definite  course  of 
study  on  the  basis  of  the  principles  set  forth.  What  has  been 
here  proposed  is  mainly  suggestive,  and  may  have  to  be  re- 
vised. Yet,  the  value  of  the  facts  presented  will  remain  un- 
shaken, even  if  some  of  the  inferences  drawn  from  them  may 
prove  to  be  fallacious ;  and  many  of  the  more  practical  sugges- 
tions have  already  been  tried  in  actual  work  and  been  found 
helpful. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
Reading  and  Literature 

MUCH  criticism  has  been  made  in  the  last  few 
years  on  the  result  of  the  teaching  of  reading 
in  the  schools.  It  is  maintained  that  the  output 
of  our  elementary  as  well  as  high  schools  has 
lost  much  of  that  appreciation  of  good  litera- 
ture in  the  broad  sense  which  it  is  claimed  was  characteris- 
tic of  their  forefathers.  Present  day  pupils  know  a  few  class- 
ical writers  with  fair  accuracy,  but  have  no  knowledge  of  the 
field  of  literature  as  such,  not  even  English  literature,  not 
to  speak  of  the  world's  masterpieces.  Allusions  to  ancient 
and  modern  classics,  to  Homer,  Virgil,  Dante,  Goethe,  Schil- 
ler, Thackeray,  George  Eliot,  seem  to  be  completely  lost  on 
the  child  of  modem  education.  And  this  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  market  is  flooded  with  inexpensive  reprints  of  every 
"classic"  under  the  sun.  The  knowledge  of  the  great  writ- 
ers of  the  past  seems  to  be  fast  disappearing,  according  to  the 
views  of  these  critics. 

The  old  Reader,  containing  bits  of  literature  from  many 
sources,  has  now  in  many  schools  been  replaced  by  a  few 
complete  books.  The  tendency  was  to  have,  in  lieu  of  the 
fragmentary  reading  of  former  times,  something  that  is  com- 
plete. There  was  much  to  be  commended  in  this  innova- 
tion, except  that  it  was  overdone.  It  is  not  natural  with 
children  to  make  an  exhaustive  study  of  a  few  things.  Such 
an  attempt  has  a  stultifying  effect.  It  causes,  as  it  were, 
mental  dyspepsia.  Children  want  to  be  touched  on  many 
points.  They  can  take  in  a  wide  range  of  inspirations  and 
typical  suggestions.     On  the  other  hand,  if  they  were  fed 

209 


2IO      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

merely  on  bits,  never  getting  a  full  well-balanced  meal,  they 
would  be  apt  to  develop  that  weakness  of  mental  digestion 
which  would  disable  them  ever  to  assimilate  and  enjoy  a 
complete  work  of  literature.  The  desire  for  short  stories, 
and  the  chopped  style  of  newspaper  information,  so  charac- 
teristic of  this  period,  may  in  a  measure  be  due  to  our  hav- 
ing been  fed  upon  the  fragmentary  and  cut-up  food  served 
out  to  us  in  our  younger  days  from  the  old  time  Reader. 
Both  forms  of  reading  material,  it  seems,  should  be  provided. 
Practice  in  rapid  reading,  instead  of  constant  patient  delving 
into  details  should  be  secured.  Children  need  not  study  like 
a  philologist,  or  a  literary  critic. 

Another  cause  for  the  phenomenon  above  referred  to  may 
be  found  in  the  failure  of  the  ordinary  reading  course  to 
adapt  itself  to  the  successive  interests  of  the  children.  The 
consequence  is  that  the  school  reading  ceases  to  mean  much  to 
them;  it  is  considered  as  a  tedious  task  to  be  done  with  as 
speedily  as  possible.  Enjo}Tnent  is  sought  in  promiscuous 
reading  out  of  school,  and  as  their  taste  has  not  been  cul- 
tivated, and  their  needs  have  been  supremely  disregarded  by 
the  educational  agencies,  the  children  turn  to  trashy,  sensa- 
tional stuff  which  burdens  their  minds  with  unwholesome 
notions  and  enters  into  their  souls  like  an  insidious  poison. 
The  Elsie  books  are  but  apparently  different  from  the  reg- 
ulation dime  novel  in  this  respect.  Even  the  great  mass  of 
Sunday  school  books,  and  books  written  expressly  for  chil- 
dren, are  trashy  and  cater  rather  to  their  perverse  taste  than 
that  they  satisfy  their  real,  normal  needs. 

The  cultivation  of  the  children's  taste  for  wholesome  read- 
ing is  as  easy  or  difficult  a  task  as  is  their  habituation  to 
truly  nourishing  food  for  their  bodies.  He  who  is  accus- 
tomed to  regular  nourishing  meals  such  as  are  adapted  to  his 
varying  needs  in  physical  development,  in  health  and  disease, 
and  who  has  been  given  healthful  exercise  stimulating  the 
natural  functions,  will  rarely  feel  that  craving  for  an  exces- 
sive use  of  sweets,  dainties,  and  spices  which  is  characteristic 
of  the  underfed  or  the  overfed,  or  of  those  who  wallow  in 
sloth  and  idleness.  Likewise,  when  the  child  is  given  the 
proper  mental  food,  at  regular  times,  alternating  with  periods 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      211 

and  exercises  for  mental  assimilation,  enough  food  and  not 
too  much,  such  as  corresponds  with  the  real  needs  of  the 
child,  there  will  be  little  danger  of  his  developing  morbid 
desires.  A  healthy  child,  properly  brought  up,  enjoys  healthy 
things  and  has  a  natural  aversion  to  mental  and  physical 
poison.  Temporary  aberrations  need  not  alarm  us  as  long 
as  we  follow  carefully  the  successive  fluctuations  of  the  child's 
evolution. 

School  reading  becomes  a  hateful  burden  to  the  child,  even 
in  the  early  periods  of  his  school  career,  also  because  of  the 
interest-killing  methods  of  teaching  employed  in  many  schools. 
It  degenerates  too  often  into  a  mechanical  exercise,  and  the 
thought  is  lost  for  the  sake  of  the  letter.  This  again  has 
two  causes:  First,  reading  is  begun  too  early,  before  the 
child's  organs  of  perception  are  ready  for  it,  and  before  his 
mind  is  mature  enough  to  assimilate  properly  the  matter  of 
the  reading  lessons,  so  that  the  process  becomes  a  painful 
struggle  from  beginning  to  end;  and  second,  the  study  of 
reading  lessons  is  too  formal,  laying  stress  on  structure,  gram- 
mar, parsing,  etc.,  rather  than  upon  the  living  thought.  Read- 
ing after  all  is  for  gaining  the  thought — not  for  the  taking 
apart  of  the  dead  bones  of  the  language.  By  dissecting  the  tis- 
sues of  a  body  you  will  fail  to  find  the  soul. 

As  to  the  first  point:  We  begin  reading  too  low  down  in 
the  grades.  Attempts  have  even  been  made  to  vitiate  the 
atmosphere  of  the  kindergarten  by  teaching  the  babes  the 
art  of  reading. 

We  are  altogether  too  impatient  to  introduce  our  chil- 
dren to  the  formal  arts.  This  means  a  misconception  of  the 
meaning  of  education.  Should  the  fact  that  there  have  been 
advanced  so  many  different  methods  for  the  teaching  of  read- 
ing to  little  children,  each  of  them  claiming  to  be  the  patent 
method,  and  each  being  effective  only  within  very  narrow 
limits  and  largely  failing  to  produce  satisfactory  results  any- 
where— should  not  the  further  fact  that  it  costs  such  an 
enormous  expenditure  of  time  and  energy  on  the  part  of 
teacher  and  pupils  to  learn  the  rudiments  of  reading  in  the 
primary  grades,  and  that  the  reading  of  the  upper  grades 
rarely  loses  this  rudimentary  character — should  these  facts, 


212      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

among  others,  not  cause  us  to  hesitate  and  reflect  before  we 
decide  to  continue  the  practice? 

When  we  remember  that  the  child  repeats,  in  a  general 
way,  the  successive  developmental  stages  of  the  race,  we  may 
well  doubt  whether  we  should  base  early  education  upon 
these  formal  arts.  There  have  been  ages  of  civilization  before 
reading  and  writing  played  any  important  part  in  general 
culture.  We  may  concede  that  the  modern  child,  being  the 
heir  of  all  previous  ages,  is  born  into  a  modern  environment 
which  presents  to  him  a  vastly  greater  opportunity  than 
primitive  man  had,  and  that  his  mind  itself  is  an  inheritance 
of  inestimably  greater  value  than  his  ancestors  possessed, — 
yet  we  need  not  draw  the  conclusion  that  we  should  stimulate 
and  hasten  his  development,  his  coining  and  squandering  his 
patrimony,  before  he  reaches  the  degree  of  maturity  to  do  that 
with  impunity. 

It  is  certainly  wrong  to  judge  popular  education  mainly 
by  the  standard  of  reading  and  writing.  They  are  by  no 
means  the  only  means  of  spiritual  culture.  It  is  a  pity  that 
the  value  of  oral  instruction  is  so  thoroly  overlooked  in  our 
textbook  age  when  a  child  is  not  thought  to  be  learning  any- 
thing unless  he  absorbs  one  of  the  many  methods  of  primary 
reading  when  he  is  not  more  than  six,  and  can  scrawl  his 
name  and  a  number  of  empty  words  on  his  slate  or  in  his  copy 
book.  Justly  a  reference  has  been  made  by  thoughtful  writers 
to  the  fact  that  the  patriarchs  of  the  Bible  were  illiterate,  and 
that  there  are  now  not  only  primitive  tribes,  but  portions  of 
our  own  white  population,  in  remote  districts  of  our  land, 
people  who  have  been  called  "our  contemporary  ancestors", 
in  the  Southern  mountains,  for  instance,  whose  life  is  truly 
patriarchical  to  this  day,  "men  and  women  who  with  deep 
tho  narrow  experiences  have  reflected  upon  the  problems  of 
life,  and  subjected  themselves  to  its  discipline,  until  they 
have  gained  the  poise  and  power  of  true  philosophers."  Yet 
they  are  practically  illiterate.  There  have  been  ages  of  civil- 
ization, of  even  high  culture,  in  the  past,  created  by  peoples 
uninitiated  to  the  arts  of  reading  and  writing  in  the  modern 
sense,  and  where  popular  education  in  these  arts  was  con- 
spicuously absent,  where  only  the  most  initiated  of  the  priest- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      213 

hood  had  any  knowledge  of  the  kind  which  we  now  are  in- 
clined to  take  as  a  criterion  of  education  even  in  the  youngest 
school  child. 

Everyone  learns  oral  language  before  written  language. 
This  is  the  order  of  procedure  in  the  racial  development. 
Consequently  those  brain  centers  which  govern  heard  and 
spoken  speech,  the  auditory  and  motor  centers,  are  earlier 
developed  and  better  organized  than  the  writing  and  reading 
centers  which  represent  a  much  later  development.  Reading 
and  writing  are  but  a  veneer  of  civilization  as  yet. 

We  may  even  make  an  application  of  this  fact  to  our  deal- 
ings with  the  undeveloped  races  to  which  our  colonizing  ef- 
forts are  reaching  out.    In  an  address  by  the  eminent  Egyptol- 
ogist, Dr.  Flinders  Petrie,  on  "The  Anthropological  View  of 
Civilization,"  the  professor  said  things  which  have  signifi- 
cance not  only  for  modern  problems  of  the  "white  man's  bur- 
den", but  also  for  ordinary  school  education  as  long  as  we 
appreciate  children  to  represent,  in  their  gradual  advance  thru 
school  classes,  successive  civilizatory  stages.     To  quote  from 
an  editorial  on  Petrie's  article:     "  'We  talk  complacently,' 
says  the  professor,  'about  the  mysterious  decay  of  savages  be- 
fore white  man.'    There  is  nothing  mysterious  about  it;  we 
change  their  environment,  we  subject  them   to   new   laws, 
force  them  to  adopt  new  habits,  give  an  unwonted  direction 
and  exercise  to  their  mental  faculties,  subject  them  in  a  hun- 
dred ways  to  a  psychological  strain  which  they  are  unable 
to  stand,  and  the  result  is  that  they  wither  just  as  we  should 
do  if  we  were  similarly  treated.    Of  all  systems,  that  which 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race  seeks  to  impose  upon  the  weaker  peo- 
ples with  which  it  comes  in  contact  is  the  most  oppressive. 
'Scarcely  a  single  race,'  the  professor  emphatically  declares, 
'can  bear  the  contact  and  the  burden.'     In  regard  to  the 
Egyptians,  he  gives  his  own  experience.    'Some  of  the  peasan- 
try are  taught  to  read  and  write,  and  the  result  is  that  they 
become  fools.     I  can  not  say  this  too  plainly:  an  Egyptian 
who  has  had  reading  and  writing  thrust  upon  him  is,  in  every 
case  that  I  have  met  with,  half-witted,  silly,  or  incapable  of 
taking  care  of  himself.     His  intellect  and  his  health  have 


214      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

been  undermined  and  crippled  by  the  forcing  of  education.'* 
"Is  it  impossible,  then,  for  the  more  advanced  races  to  lend 
any  real  assistance  to  the  less  advanced?  It  is,  if  the  only 
idea  of  assisting  them  is  to  Europeanize  them ;  but  not,  if  the 
more  rational  idea  is  adopted  of  a  gradual  education  along 
w^hoUy  natural  lines,  with  due  regard  to  conditions  both 
present  and  antecedent.  'Our  bigoted  belief,'  says  Prof. 
Petrie,  'in  reading  and  wanting  is  not  in  the  least  justified 
vv^hen  we  look  at  the  mass  of  mankind.  The  exquisite  art  and 
noble  architecture  of  Mykenae,  the  undying  song  of  Homer, 
the  extensive  trade  of  the  bronze  age,  all  belonged  to  people 
who  neither  read  nor  wrote.  The  great  essentials  of  a  valu- 
able character — moderation,  justice,  sympathy,  politeness  and 
consideration,  quick  observation,  shrewdness,  ability  to  plan 
and  prearrange,  a  keen  sense  of  the  uses  and  properties  of 
things — all  these  are  qualities  on  which  I  value  my  Egyptian 
friends,  and  such  qualities  are  what  should  be  evolved  by  any 
education  worth  the  name.'  " 

To  the  modem  adult,  reading  seems  so  simple  a  process 
that  he  overlooks  the  fact  that  it  involves  a  complex  activity 
of  nerves  and  brain  which  presupposes  a  certain  maturity  of 
mental  adjustment.  The  combination  of  thing,  name,  sound, 
and  symbol  into  one  organized  concept  is  a  difficult  perform- 
ance. 

Each  one  of  these  perceptions  has  its  own  center  in  the 
brain,  and  it  requires  the  establishment  of  strong  concepts 
for  each,  and  of  smooth  association  tracts,  to  enable  a  child  to 
have  a  connected  mental  image  of  an  object  or  an  action. 

In  the  endeavor  to  "simplify"  the  reading  in  the  beginning, 
the  teacher  is  obliged  to  introduce  at  first  uninteresting  and 
slowly  progressing  reading  matter  to  which  the  child  has  no 
natural  leaning. 

But  even  tho  there  were  a  natural  or  artificial  craving  on 
the  part  of  the  children  to  learn  how  to  read^  at  this  early 
period,  or  even  if  their  minds  were  mature  enough  to  grapple 


*It  may  be  well  to  draw  a  lesson  from  this  statement  with 
regard  to  the  schooling  of  the  colored  population  of  our  own 
South. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       215 

with  the  difficulties  of  the  conceptual  process, — their  sense 
organs,  their  nervous  development  generally,  would  offer  a 
most  emphatic  veto.  There  are  physiological  considerations 
which  will  cause  us  to  look  at  these  early  attempts  at  reading 
and  writing,  as  a  performance  fraught  with  grave  dangers 
for  the  healthy  development  of  the  child. 

The  child,  as  has  been  stated  before,  is  far-sighted  at  this 
age,  and  if  required  to  concentrate  his  vision  on  near  and 
minute  objects,  is  apt  to  be  more  or  less  seriously  injured  in 
his  power  of  vision  and  in  his  nervous  vigor.  Reading,  writ- 
ing, and  even  drawing  involve,  as  has  been  shown,  a  high  de- 
gree of  motor  specialization,  in  arms,  wrist,  hand,  finger,  and 
eye  adjustment.  Even  the  body  posture  is  an  element  in  this 
adjustment,  and  if  the  child  is  forced  at  an  early  age  to 
assume  strained  positions  for  the  purpose  of  those  finer 
specializations  of  movement  as  required  by  reading  and  writ- 
ing in  books,  he  may  suffer  in  consequence.  It  is  a  notable 
fact  that  visual  and  spinal  defects  increase  in  number  and 
percentage  in  the  child's  progress  from  lower  to  higher  grades 
in  school. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  remind  the  reader  in  this  connec- 
tion of  the  instructive  investigations  of  the  late  Prof.  Her- 
man Cohn,  of  Breslau.  He  has  shown  that  the  range  of  vi- 
sion in  the  open,  not  only  with  primitive  peoples,  but  even 
with  modern  school  children,  far  surpasses  that  ever  tested 
within  the  walls  of  house  or  room,  and  indeed  all  expecta- 
tions. 

Even  with  regard  to  spoken  language,  the  premature  teach- 
ing of  reading,  requiring  fine  adjustments  of  speech  organs, 
seems  at  times  to  have  an  injurious  effect.  Attention  has 
been  called  to  the  high  per  cent,  of  stutterers  in  the  element- 
ary schools,  and  the  great  increase  of  stuttering  after  the 
transition  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  lowest  primary 
classes.  It  is  a  very  significant  fact  that  this  increase  hap- 
pens, with  boys  and  girls  alike,  at  a  time  when  instruction  in 
reading  aloud  is  begun,  and  it  may  be  asked  whether  there 
might  not  be  a  cause  and  explanation  for  this  in  faulty  meth- 
ods of  teaching.  Even  in  enunciating  clearly  and  precisely, 
altho  certain  discreet  exercises  are  sure  to  be  helpful,  an 


2i6      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

undue  forcing  may  lead  to  disaster. 

The  fact  should  be  emphasized  that  a  child  mature  enough 
in  mind  and  body  to  grapple  with  the  written  and  printed 
symbols  of  words  and  things,  that  is,  a  child  of  about  eight 
or  nine  years,  will  learn  to  read  without  much  effort  and  dif- 
ficulty, and  indeed  in  a  comparatively  short  time.  There  will 
have  been,  up  to  this  period,  a  great  deal  of  more  or  less 
unconscious  absorption  of  literal  symbols,  and  reading  will 
come  to  him  almost  without  purposive  application.  Here, 
as  in  other  branches,  he  learns  by  psychological,  not  by  log- 
ical methods.  In  the  Third  grade,  perhaps  there  may  be  con- 
centration on  the  formal  side  of  reading. 

The  child  will  apply  himself  to  the  conquest  of  books  as 
soon  as  he  awakens  to  an  understanding  of  their  use  and 
meaning.  When  he  is  interested  in  the  subject  matter  to  be 
gotten  out  of  them,  he  will  learn  to  read  as  quickly  as  did 
the  boy  Alfred  in  the  olden  times  of  Anglo-Saxon  England. 
The  element  of  interest  is  of  supreme  importance  here  as  in 
all  other  studies. 

It  is  true  some  children  are,  by  the  force  of  their  environ- 
ment, stimulated  to  a  very  early  development  of  the  faculty 
of  reading.  Where  there  is  a  book-loving  atmosphere  in  the 
home,  the  growing  children  may  breathe  it  in  as  they  will 
the  natural  air  in  which  they  thrive.  Where  reading  comes 
thus  natural,  and  where  an  inheritance  of  special  culture  will 
strengthen  their  power  of  absorption  along  this  line,  the  harm 
done  may  be  minimal.  Yet,  artificial  desires  are  awakened 
only  too  often  by  the  hot-house  culture  some  children  are 
subjected  to  from  the  time  of  their  birth.  The  conventional 
notions  of  what  constitutes  education  have  unfortunately  in- 
vaded the  very  nurseries.  Or  again,  there  are  precocious 
children  whose  rate  of  mental  growth  is  abnormally  rapid. 
The  nervous  tension  of  our  modem  society  has  produced 
many  such.  But  in  neither  case  will  the  further  develop- 
ment of  the  children  justify  the  early  overstimulation;  few 
precocious  children  will  fail  to  evince  signs  of  weakness  some- 
where at  a  relatively  early  period. 

In  investigating  the  rational  method  of  teaching  reading, 
let  us  be  reminded  of  the  steps  the  race  has  taken  in  develop- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      217 

ing  graphic  and  literal  symbols  for  things,  sounds,  and  words. 
A  detailed  reference  to  totems,  cord  records,  and  similar  meth- 
ods of  recording  events  and  emblematising  objects  and 
thoughts,  may  here  be  omitted.  It  is,  however,  well  enough 
known  that  writing  proper  took  its  origin  in  picture  rec- 
ords, hieroglyphic  representations  of  various  kinds.  In  "La 
Science  Francaise",  T.  Obalski  said  this: 

"An  instinct  for  imitation  leads  man  to  reproduce  the 
forms  of  surrounding  objects,  and  in  the  invention  of  the 
graphic  art  he  has  aimed  to  materialize  his  thoughts  and  give 
them  form  and  substance;  he  has  wished  to  supply  the  place 
of  the  absent  word,  and  even  to  depict  it  to  the  eye  in  the 
present  and  in  the  future.     .     .     . 

"It  is  generally  admitted  that  writing  was  at  first  ideo- 
graphic and  solely  by  means  of  pictures,  as  it  is  yet  among 
certain  Indian  tribes  of  North  America;  it  then  became  pho- 
netic, then  syllabic,  and  finally  alphabetic,  thus  reaching  its 
apogee. 

"Certain  of  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  themselves  have  a 
very  pronounced  pictorial  origin.  The  first  letters  of  the 
Greek  alphabet,  for  instance,  had  once  the  form  of  an  ox's 
head,  of  a  house,  of  a  tent,  of  a  camel,  of  a  door,  etc. 

"In  ideographic  writing,  man  limits  himself  to  the  repre- 
sentation pure  and  simple  of  the  beings  or  objects  which  he 
wishes  to  recall,  such  as  a  tree,  a  brook,  a  lion.  This  is 
ideographism  proper  or  concrete.     .     .     . 

"Next  we  come  to  pure  symbolism,  which  consists  in  ex- 
pressing abstract  ideas  by  figures  that  will  suggest  these  ideas 
to  others,  a  bird  signifying  speed,  a  fox  cunning,  etc, 

"From  this  point  to  phonetic  writing  there  is  an  immense 
step  to  be  taken.  Here  the  image  or  symbol  must  represent 
a  sound.  The  'rebus'  is  really  a  transition  form  between 
ideographic  and  phonetic  writing.     .     .     ." 

On  the  strength  of  these  facts,  would  it  not  commend 
itself  to  introduce,  with  children,  the  arts  of  writing  and 
reading  also  by  way  of  picture  writing  and  picture  reading? 
Picture  books  have  been  the  delight  of  children  ever  since 
there  were  children  and  picture  books.  A  more  systematic 
use  might  be  made  of  these,  so  that  the  ideographic  method 


2i8       THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

would  lead  over  to  symbolic  representation,  and  from  there 
to  phonetic  conception.  The  rebus,  being  pictorial  in  char- 
acter, but  at  the  same  time  phonetic  and  introducing  letter 
forms  as  representations  of  certain  elementary  sounds,  may 
still  be  employed  to  initiate  the  children  to  phonetic  apprecia- 
tion. It  is  apt  to  arouse  their  intense  interest,  and  will  thus 
engage  their  close  attention.  It  is  surer  to  develop  phonetic 
distinction  in  the  child  than  if  we  would  begin  to  harass  him 
by  sounding  every  vocal  element  of  each  word  with  tedious 
pedantry. 

Such  work  as  this  need  not  exclude  altogether  an  early  in- 
troduction of  a  selected  number  of  printed  or  written  words, 
or  even  phrases,  as  wholes,  serving  as  cogs  to  the  memory,  in 
connection  with  the  oral  and  objective  work  done  at  this 
stage.  Thus,  remembering  that  this  is  the  "naming  period", 
we  may  teach  the  children  to  recognize  the  names  of  things, 
of  the  points  of  the  compass,  of  the  heroes  and  heroines  of  the 
stories  told  and  retold,  as  of  Cinderella,  Apollon,  Baldur, 
etc.  These  names  will,  in  the  children's  memory,  be  asso- 
ciated with  the  mental  images  they  have  gained  of  these 
things  and  personages,  and  altho  at  the  beginning  more  or 
less  hieroglyphic  in  character,  they  will  form  a  bridge  towards 
a  more  abstract  conception  of  symbolic  representation.  Con- 
sisting of  alphabetic  elements  as  these  words  do,  they  will  also 
initiate  the  child,  without  much  conscious  effort,  largely  by 
absorption,  to  an  appreciation  of  the  alphabetic  symbols  of 
certain  sounds  at  least. 

The  first  books  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  children,  it  has 
been  said,  should  be  picture  books.  But  the  first  printed  vol- 
umes given  them,  in  the  Third  grade,  for  instance,  might  fitly 
contain  the  stories  told  in  the  previous  grades,  quite  closely 
following  the  oral  form  in  which  they  were  originally  pre- 
sented, so  that  the  child  may  readily  recognise  his  old  friends, 
and  thru  them  have  opened  up  to  him  the  wide  world  of  book 
knowledge. 

As  soon  as  the  printed  page  is  offered  to  the  child,  the 
hygiene  of  reading  requires  attention.  Few  schoolbooks  meet 
hygienic  requirements.  And  yet,  when  we  consider  what  fine 
muscular  adjustments  are  necessary  to  enable  the  child  to 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      219 

recognize  readily  the  complex  and  intricate  forms  of  letters 
and  get  snapshots  of  the  words  read  on  his  retina,  we  shall 
appreciate  how  important  it  is,  especially  with  beginners,  to 
make  the  conditions  for  reading  as  normal  as  possible. 

"Type  should  not  be  less  than  1.5  mm.  in  height;  it  should 
be  leaded,  and  the  illumination  of  the  printed  page  should  not 
be  less  than  100  candle-meters.  Yet  most  schoolbooks  are 
printed  in  small  type,  without  leads,  on  poor  or  glazed  paper, 
and  the  illumination  in  many  school  rooms  is  less  than  two 
candle-meters.  Prof.  Catell  found  the  relative  legibility  of 
the  small  letters  to  be  in  the  following  order  :dkmqhbpw 
ultvzrofnaxyeigcs.  Thus  some  of  the  let- 
ters most  frequently  used  are  among  the  most  illegible."* 

To  make  the  hygienic  conditions  of  reading  favorable  is 
the  least  we  must  do  to  enable  the  child  to  build  up  with  ease, 
rapidity,  and  clearness  the  composite  concept  which  is  the 
result  of  the  reading  process.  To  analyze  briefly  the  elements 
of  this  composite  concept,  let  us  be  reminded  that  there  must 
first  be  the  mental  image  of  the  thing  itself — this  image  is, 
indeed  the  first  symbol  of  the  real  object.  Then  there  is  the 
name  of  the  thing.  This  again,  as  a  spoken  word,  produces  a 
sound  image;  as  a  written  or  printed  word,  a  visual  image. 
Here  we  have  already  three  mental  images  which  must  blend 
to  produce  a  complete  concept.  That  each  of  these  is  in  itself 
composite,  in  as  much  as  the  object  no  more  than  its  spoken  or 
written  name  consists  of  component  parts  to  each  of  which 
corresponds  a  mental  counterpart,  may  be  remarked  in  pass- 
ing. But  each  also  contains  at  the  same  time  not  only 
sensory  elements,  but  also  motor  elements.  Hearing  may  be 
considered  a  relatively  simple  sensory  process;  but  in  seeing 
the  word  on  the  page  or  the  blackboard,  there  is  a  fine  muscu- 
lar adjustment  of  the  visual  apparatus,  to  secure  true  focus- 
ing.   This  muscular  effort  leaves  a  motor  trace  in  the  mem- 


*From  a  report  on  "Conditions  of  Fatigue  in  Reading,"  based 
on  investigations  by  Prof.  Catell,  of  Columbia  University,  in 
Child  Study  Monthly,  November,  1896.  A  complete  statement 
of  hygienic  requirements  in  reading,  by  Prof.  Bumham,  will  be 
found  in  the  School  Jrl.  of  Dec.  30,  1899,  p.  720. 


220      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

ory.  Again  the  word  as  heard,  calls  forth  a  more  or  less 
conscious  reproduction  by  imitation,  by  means  of  our  vocal 
organs,  even  tho  this  were  done  "silently",  i.  e.  without  the 
uttering  of  a  sound,  the  vocal  musculature  being  merely 
"tuned"  to  the  word;  and  the  motor  element  of  muscular 
effort  in  pronouncing  the  word  is  also  recorded  in  the  brain, 
alongside  with  and  overlapping  the  other  elements  of  this 
composite  concept.  It  should  also  be  remembered  that  the 
sound  of  our  own  voice,  in  speaking  the  word,  produces  an 
additional  element  in  this  composition.  Further,  there  is  the 
motor  activity  needed  in  meriting  the  word,  which  must  be 
superadded  to  the  previous  elements.  All  these  memories 
combine  in  the  production  of  the  complete  concept,  and  may 
recall  each  other  mutually,  so  that  the  sound  or  the  printed 
form,  of  the  word,  may  automatically  call  forth  the  rest  of 
these  memories,  including  the  image  of  the  thing  itself,  and 
vice  versa.  But  to  make  this  possible,  care  must  be  taken  to 
knit  these  elements  closely  together. 

The  component  parts  of  such  a  conceptual  colony  do  not 
necessarily  form  a  democracy,  each  having  equal  right  and 
influence.  There  are,  among  men,  different  types,  according 
to  one  or  the  other  of  these  elements  prevailing,  predominat- 
ing, and  controlling  the  others.  Thus,  we  distinguish  the 
visual  type  where  a  visual  image  predominates,  whereas  the 
others  are  more  or  less  dim  and  ineffective.  In  the  auditory 
type,  the  spoken  word  recalls  most  easily  all  the  other  com- 
ponent factors.  Then  we  have  the  motor  type  when  the 
motor  memories  prevail ;  and  the  indefinite  mixed  type.  Ear- 
mindedness  and  eye-mindedness,  as  the  corresponding  two 
types  are  sometimes  called,  play  an  important  part  in  learning 
to  spell.  Then  again,  the  curious  observation  has  been  made 
that  different  persons  have  quite  different  mental  symbols 
which  are  employed  by  them  to  represent  the  whole  of  these 
conceptual  compositions.  Thinking  of  a  tree,  e.  g.,  some  of  us 
will  have  rising  before  the  mind's  eye  the  image  of  a  tree 
itself,  usually  belonging  to  the  species  to  which  they  attached 
the  label  "tree"  when  they  first  formed  this  concept,  thus 
showing  the  effect  of  their  early  environment.     To  others, 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      221 

the  word  "tree"  will  conjure  up  no  such  objective  image, 
but  merely  an  auditory  memory,  or  image,  so  that,  with  them, 
the  symbol  of  the  whole  concept  comprised  therein  will  be 
the  memory  of  the  spoken  word.  Others,  again,  especially 
those  the  bulk  of  whose  knowledge  comes  from  books,  will 
have  the  image  of  the  printed  word.  In  fact,  it  will  be  a  rare 
occurrence  when  all  composing  elements  will  be  called  up  at 
the  same  time.  It  is  in  the  nature  of  the  human  mind  to 
work  thru  symbols  and  formulae,  and  for  each  mind  to  select 
its  own  symbol,  the  one  which  corresponds  most  closely  to 
its  individual  life-conditions. 

This  tendency  to  drop  the  majority  of  the  constituent  parts 
of  a  concept  unless  they  are  absolutely  needed  for  a  pains- 
taking identification  of  the  same,  and  to  rely  for  its  rapid 
recognition  upon  some  reduced  symbol,  so  to  speak,  is  also  evi- 
dent in  the  process  of  reading.  When  we  have  once  mastered 
the  mechanical  part  of  this  art,  we  rarely  take  the  trouble  to 
recognize  in  detail  every  letter  or  even  every  single  word, 
but  allow  ourselves  to  be  guided  mainly  by  the  thought-sug- 
gestions which  the  words  convey.  In  a  report  on  his  prelim- 
inary experiments  in  the  Physiology  and  Psychology  of  Read- 
ing* Edmund  B.  Huey  shows  that  "sense"  reading  is  faster 
than  nonsense  reading,  owing  to  the  subexcitations  of  asso- 
ciation tracts,  one  word  suggesting  its  usual  complement. 
The  first  part  of  a  word  more  readily  suggests  the  entire 
word  than  the  last  part.  In  sense  reading,  he  claims  we 
really  do  not  decipher  every  word.    Says  Prof.  Jos.  Jastrow  :* 

"There  is  a  mind  behind  the  eye  and  ear  and  the  finger 
tips  which  guides  them  in  gathering  information,  and  gives 
value  and  order  to  the  exercise  of  the  senses.  This  is  par- 
ticularly true  of  vision,  the  most  intellectual  of  all  the 
senses,  and  one  in  which  mere  acuteness  of  the  sense-organ 
counts  least  and  the  training  in  observation  counts  most. 
The  eagle's  eye  sees  farther,  but  our  eyes  tell  us  much  more 
of  what  is  seen.  .  .  .  The  importance  of  the  mind's 
eye  m  ordinary  vision  is  also  well  illustrated  in  cases  in  which 


♦Amer.  Jrl.  of  Psych.,  IX,  4- 

*"The  Mind's  Eye",  Pop.  Science  Monthly,  Jan.,  1899, 


222      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

we  see  or  seem  to  see  what  is  not  really  present,  but  what 
for  one  cause  or  another  it  is  natural  to  suppose  is  present 
A  very  familiar  instance  of  this  process  is  the  constant  over- 
looking of  misprints — false  letters,  transposed  letters,  and 
missing  letters — unless  these  happen  to  be  particularly  strik- 
ing. We  see  only  the  general  physiognomy  of  the  word  and 
the  detailed  features  are  supplied  from  within;  in  this  case 
it  is  the  expected  that  happens.  Reading  is  done  largely  by 
the  mental  eye ;  and  entire  words  obviously  suggested  by  the 
context,  are  sometimes  read  in,  when  they  have  been  acd- 
dently  omitted.     .     .     .     The  mental  predisposition    .  .     . 

.     .     becomes  the  dominant  factor." 

From  this  the  conclusion  is  justified  that  even  in  the  teach- 
ing of  reading  there  must  be  an  interesting,  attention  arous- 
ing thought  which  will  attract  the  child  and  which  he  will 
endeavor  to  cull  from  the  printed  page.  It  is  needless  to 
prove  that  such  sentences  as  "The  cat  is  on  the  mat,"  or, 
"The  man  has  a  stick,"  erroneously  nicknamed  "stories",  do 
not  present  to  the  child  an  attractive  thought. 

When,  in  his  eager  and  impatient  search  for  the  thought, 
the  child  should  occasionally  happen  to  omit  certain  words, 
or  to  substitute  others  for  those  in  the  book,  we  need  not  feel 
unduly  disturbed.  Let  us  be  satisfied  if  the  child,  above  all 
other  things,  does  get  the  thought.  During  this  process  of 
finding  the  thought,  we  should  not  harass  him  by  pedantic 
interruptions  and  corrections.  After  he  has  got  the  sense  of 
the  sentence,  or  selection,  we  may,  by  judicious  questioning, 
call  his  attention  to  the  correct  expressitwis,  and  in  general 
to  the  form  in  which  the  thought  is  expressed.  It  is  well, 
then,  to  cultivate  an  appreciation  of  the  lucid  and  pregnant 
manner  in  which  the  author  has  handled  the  language  as  his 
tool  for  adequate  expression,  and  to  give  the  pupil  practice 
in  the  proper  use  of  words  and  phrases,  following  the  great 
examples  set  by  masters  of  style. 

But  before  books  can  be  intelligently  used,  much  oral 
work  should  be  done,  not  only  that  the  child  may  gain  ma- 
turity of  thought  and  appreciation,  so  as  to  read  understand- 
ingly  and  with  due  amount  of  pleasure  from  the  beginning, 
but  also  for  the  purpose  of  training  his  vocal  organs  ju- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       223 

diciously  so  that  they  be  pliable  and  ready  agents  for  correct 
enunciation  and  pleasing  delivery.  Oral  work  in  foreign 
languages  will  assist  the  child  in  exploring  and  practicing  a 
wide  range  of  sounds;  he  will  then  find  himself  capable  of 
adjusting  himself  to  all  requirements  of  well-moduUted, 
clear  and  agreeable  reading.  Singing  is  also  a  great  help  in 
training  the  vocal  organs,  including  a  proper  use  of  lungs  and 
chest.  "In  the  correction  of  errors  in  language,"  suggests 
Prof.  Lukens,  "the  ear  can  be  more  easily  trained  than  the 
eye  to  recognize  and  use  correct  forms.  Children  appreciate 
and  take  delight  in  matters  of  euphony.  Pretty  sounds  are 
enjoyed,  and  if  matters  of  this  kind  receive  their  due  place 
early  in  life,  they  will  later  widen  out  to  beauty  of  style.  The 
ear  is  the  organ  of  the  emotions  more  than  any  other  sense, 
and  there  is  much  less  danger  from  too  great  use  of  the  ear 
in  early  school  work  than  of  the  eye." 

But  in  all  these  efforts  we  must  take  care  to  form  the 
child's  taste  by  giving  him  real  literature  from  the  beginning. 
The  oral  work  may  be  done  by  telling,  or  reading,  stories, 
poetic  selections,  etc.,  to  the  children;  these  the  pupils  may 
reproduce,  and  in  part  commit  to  memory.  There  is  too 
little  of  this  telling  and  memorizing  of  good  selections  done 
nowadays.  Let  us  carefully  select  gems  of  poetry,  interest- 
ing to  children,  even  tho  their  language  may  remain  partly 
mysterious  to  them;  proverbs  and  sayings,  such  in  which  the 
wisdom  of  ages  is  crystallized.  Stories,  myths,  and  fairy- 
tales will  be  largely  suggested  by  the  other  work  of  the 
school,  as  frequently  indicated  in  these  chapters.  But  let  us 
understand  that  all  these  selections  must  represent  eternal 
motives,  not  merely  silly  fancies ;  that  they  must  be  typical  in 
form  and  content,  so  as  to  have  an  imperishable  value  for 
the  children's  mental  and  moral  development.  We  should 
give  only  what  is  best  and  lasting,  the  perennial  creations  of 
the  human  mind,  those  that  symbolize  eternal  truths  in  the 
life  of  nature  and  of  man.  Bar  out  the  silly  trash  written  up 
by  the  penny-a-liner  children's  books  manufacturer. 

The  old  myths  can  be  told  over  in  a  modernized  form,  if 
you  please,  such  as  President  David  Starr  Jordan  has  at- 
tempted in  his  charming  "Book  of  Knight  and   Barbara" 


224      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

(New  York,  Appleton),  without  fear  that  the  true  spirit 
would  be  lost.  Let  us  remember  that,  after  all,  our  chil- 
dren are  modern  children,  living  in  a  modern  environ- 
ment, and  that  they  have  no  apperceptive  basis  for  ancient 
conditions.  To  adapt  the  ancient  myths  to  modern  concep- 
tions is  therefore  perfectly  legitimate;  it  is  the  eternal,  typ- 
ical thought  for  which  we  care  most,  surely  at  this  stage  more 
than  for  ethnographic  information.  Our  own  fairy-tales, 
what  else  are  they  but  mediaeval  adaptations  of  ancient  myth- 
ological elements?  No  fear  need  to  be  entertained  that  such 
treatment  will  spoil  the  children's  future  enjoyment  of  the 
classic  form,  provided  they  are  introduced  to  the  latter  at 
the  proper  stage  of  their  development  and  in  a  spirited  way. 

This  oral  work  should  be  continued  thru  the  reading 
period,  supplementing  the  book  work;  and  similar  selec- 
tion should  characterize  the  reading  material.  Have  them 
read  only  what  is  worth  reading.  There  is  a  wealth  of  good 
literature  to  draw  from.  There  is  no  excuse  for  restricting 
the  children  to  a  few  made-up  books  when  they  should  read 
as  much  as  they  can  assimilate. 

Reading  has  two  objects:  to  mediate  information,  and  to 
give  inspiration.  Information  represents  the  knowledge-ele- 
ment; inspiration  is  drawn  from  the  ethical  ideals  which 
lofty  poetry  and  literature  is  destined  to  arouse  in  our  souls. 
But  no  sharp  line  can  be  drawn  between  the  two.  Even 
information,  if  of  the  right  kind,  and  presented  in  the  right 
form,  will  give  inspiration:  inspiration  towards  mental  ef- 
fort, self-culture,  and  self-perfection,  and  towards  following 
the  lead  of  the  masters  of  thought,  of  knowledge,  of  action. 
To  secure  this  effect  we  should  place  in  the  hands  of  the 
young  only  the  best  books,  even  on  the  side  of  mere  infor- 
mation. The  master  of  a  sdence  is  usually  best  able  to  ex- 
press its  message.  At  any  rate,  supplementary  literature 
reading  should  accompany  all  other  work.  Read  Bancroft 
and  Mommsen  and  Hawthorne  and  Ebers  for  history;  read 
the  best  poetry  illustrative  of  historical  events  and  geo- 
graphical facts;  read  Ruskin  to  accompany  your  art  work; 
read  Kipling's  "The  Ship  that  Found  Herself",  or  his  "007", 
to  learn  how  even  brute  machinery,  the  product  of  man's 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       225 

most  Ingenious  conquest  of  nature,  can  be  endowed  with  a  liv- 
ing soul. 

Children,  furthermore,  must  be  taught  not  only  what  to 
read,  but  also  hoiv  to  read,  so  that  they  would  get  the  full 
benefit  of  their  reading,  and  learn  to  get  the  fullness  of 
thought  out  of  the  books,  and  also  enjoy  the  beauty  of  form. 
Their  home- reading  should  be  controlled  as  much  as  we  can 
do  that,  by  supplementing  the  school  work  thru  the  help  of  a 
school  library,  making  use  of  current  magazines,  and  con- 
necting the  school  systematically  with  the  public  library.  Chil- 
dren must  learn  how  best  to  look  up  references,  and  to  find 
instructive  and  interesting  material  anywhere,  or  at  least 
wholestmie  enjoyment.  They  might  be  invited  to  report  at 
school  on  some,  or  even  all,  of  this  supplementary  reading, 
for  the  benefit  of  their  classmates,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
enabling  them  to  become  fully  conscious  of  what  they  have 
read ;  yet,  while  aiming  at  some  systematic  form  of  doing  so, 
avoid  becoming  pedantic.  We  must  keep  alive  in  our  pupils, 
as  much  as  feasible,  the  sense  of  freedom  of  choice,  and  we 
must  respect  to  some  degree  their  privacy  of  enjoyment.  All 
this,  however,  requires  careful,  methodical  procedure,  so  as  to 
avoid  waste  of  time  and  energy. 

In  selecting  and  grading  material,  we  shall  have  to  follow 
the  successive  interests  of  the  child  as  being  indicative  of 
natural  periods  of  development.  The  culture  epoch  theory 
as  it  has  been  set  forth  in  previous  chapters  will  be  our  guide 
in  this  respect. 

Then  there  are  two  special  adjustments  to  be  made.  The 
first  is  in  regard  to  the  periods  of  the  reading  interest.  There 
are,  as  has  been  shown  before,  maximum  and  minimum  pe- 
riods of  this  interest.  Thus,  while  at  the  proper  stages  we 
may  concentrate  on  reading,  in  school  and  supplementary,  at 
others  there  shooild  be  a  letting  oflF,  and  concentration  on 
other  work,  objective  and  manual. 

The  second  adjustment  is  one  to  individual  conditions 
and  needs.  Each  one  can  be  reached  best  thru  his  supreme 
interest;  and  if  care  is  taken  that  in  class  work  there  be  an 
exchange  of  individual  experiences,  by  reports  and  discus- 
sions under  proper  guidance,  there  will  be  no  narrowing 


274      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

down  to  individual  idiosyncrasies,  no  danger  of  the  pupils  be- 
coming one-sided  and  unredeemable,  but  a  community  of  in- 
terests will  be  established,  and  mutual  appreciation  and  re- 
spect secured.  Individualization  as  to  special  interests  in- 
cludes, of  course,  a  proper  regard  for  the  different  interests 
of  the  two  sexes,  at  the  successive  stages  of  sexual  differentia- 
tion. 

The  main  purpose  of  the  study  of  literature,  as  Dr.  Wm. 
T.  Harris  once  put  it,  is  that  it  affords  "vicarious  experi- 
ence". The  author  will  close  this  chapter  with  a  quotation 
from  the  essay  in  which  this  helpful  view  is  set  forth : 

"The  greatest  poets  are  Homer,  Dante,  Shakespeare,  and 
Goethe,  and  these  artists  are  in  the  truest  sense  educators  of 
mankind.  The  types  of  character  exhibited  in  their  literary 
works  of  art,  Achilles,  Agamemnon,  Ulysses,  Macbeth,  Ham- 
let, Wilhelm  Meister,  and  Faust  have  helped  and  will  always 
help  all  mankind  to  self-knowledge  by  showing  them  how 
feelings  become  convictions,  and  how  convictions  become 
deeds,  and  how  deeds  react  upon  the  doer  thru  the  great 
organisms  of  human  society.  The  world-wisdom  of  a  people 
is  largely  derived  from  its  national  poets  not  as  a  moral 
philosophy  but  as  vicarious  experience.  Aristotle  said  that 
the  drama  purifies  the  spectator  by  showing  him  how  his  feel- 
ings and  convictions  will  result  when  carried  out.  Without 
making  the  experiment  himself,  he  profits  by  participating 
in  the  world  of  experience  depicted  for  him  by  the  poet." 


CHAPTER  XIV 

Oral  and  Written  Composition 

IN  order  to  ascertain  what  part  composition  is  to  play 
in  education,  and  by  what  means  we  may  accomplish  the 
best  results,  we  must  first  be  clear  in  our  minds  as  to 
what  is  the  real  purpose  of  composition.  In  most  schools 
it  is  mainly  subservient  to  grammatical  drill;  sentence 
building  and  even  essay-writing  are  utilized  for  the  formal 
practice  in  the  application  of  certain  grammatical  rules  and 
usages,  or  of  rhetorical  prescriptions.  The  author  has  never 
been  able  to  reconcile  himself  to  the  use  of  the  term  "com- 
position" as  applied  to  the  teaching  of  Latin  and  Greek  syn- 
tax in  our  schools,  signifying  as  it  does  here  a  putting  together 
of  detached  language  bits  into  certain  grammatical  relations 
without  particular  reference  to  the  development  of  a  thought 
content.  Such  exercises  are  indeed  valuable  and  necessary, 
altho  in  lower  grades  they  are  often  overdone;  when  the 
child's  mind  has  reached  a  certain  degree  of  maturity,  when 
it  has  become  capable  of  abstraction  and  reflection,  work  of 
this  nature  will  prove  itself  very  helpful  if  judiciously  em- 
ployed. But  it  is  composition  as  little  as  would  be  exercises 
in  putting  chords  together  to  form  a  musical  sequence  and 
harmony,  according  to  the  rules  of  the  grammar  of  music ;  or 
exercises  in  light  and  shade  and  outline  and  washes  and  bits 
from  nature,  in  drawing  and  painting.  To  deserve  the  name 
"composition",  a  melody,  or  a  picture,  must  be  more  than  a 
mere  technical  exercise.  Likewise  a  composition  in  language. 
Composition  refers  to  composing,  not  of  technical  forms,  but 
of  thoughts  as  expressed  thru  form,  and  is  in  its  very  nature 
an  art.  "There  is",  says  Disraeli,  "an  art  of  reading,  as  well 
as  an  art  of  thinking,  and  an  art  of  writing."    It  has  refer- 

227 


228      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

ence  to  a  re-arrangement  of  the  impressions  we  have  received 
from  the  outside  world,  into  some  organic  whole  which  cor- 
responds to  our  individual  mental  attitude  towards  these 
impressions.  There  must  first  be  such  an  individual  attitude 
— the  impressions  must  have  been  worked  over  so  as  to  be  men- 
tal possessions,  to  become  our  own  inner  world,  or  world- 
view,  world-conception.  He  who  cannot  thus  assimilate  his 
impressions,  who  cannot  first  of  all  compose  them  within 
himself  to  form  organized  groups  in  his  mind,  will  never  be 
able  to  make  more  than  a  bungling  attempt  at  composition,  in 
speaking  or  writing,  however  well  he  may  master  the  techni- 
cal rules. 

Orderly  thinking  is  the  prerequisite  for  orderly  speaking 
and  orderly  writing.  A  training  in  the  art  of  receiving  im- 
pressions, in  the  art  of  perceiving,  conceiving,  thinking,  must, 
then,  precede  the  training  in  composition.  Composition  sig- 
nifies the  expression  of  our  inner  self.  When  we  have  suc- 
ceeded, as  educators,  in  doing  our  share  towards  enabling  the 
child  to  set  himself  right  with  the  world  about  him,  to  find 
his  mental  bearings,  to  develop  an  individual  attitude, — then 
the  expression  of  this  attitude  will  be  found  to  be  a  relatively 
simple  process. 

"Is  it  not  true,"  asks  John  Burroughs,  "that  in  literature 
proper,  our  interest  is  alwa)^  in  the  writer  himself, — his  qual- 
ity, his  personality,  his  point  of  view?  We  may  fancy  that 
we  care  only  for  the  subject  matter,  but  the  bom  writer 
makes  any  subject  interesting  to  us  by  his  treatment  of  it  or 
by  the  personal  element  he  infuses  into  it.  .  .  .  This 
intimate  personal  quality  is  no  doubt  one  of  the  secrets  of 
what  is  called  style,  perhaps  the  most  important  one.    .    .    ." 

We  must  then,  above  all  other  things,  work  for  the  thought 
and  feeling  which  may  then  strive  for  expression,  and  which 
will  prompt  the  child  to  seek  for  the  most  adequate,  precise, 
and  suggestive  form  of  expression.  Form  has  value  only  as  a 
means  to  an  end.  Beauty  has  no  independent  existence. 
"Function,"  says  Walter  J.  Kenyon,  "is  the  basis  of  all  art. 
.  .  .  The  sure  way  to  miss  beauty  is  to  try  to  create 
without  a  core  of  principle;  to  invent  style  for  style's  sake 
instead  of  for  the  truth's  sake."  And  again :  "All  spontaneous 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      229 

expression,  be  it  under  skilled  guidance,  will  make  ultimately 
for  beauty.  No  other  expression  is  educative.  .  .  . 
Wherever  a  creation  is  the  expression  of  an  eager  soul,  un- 
driven  save  by  native  impulse,  it  makes  towards  art,  whether 
it  is  decorative  or  not,  and  whether  it  be  sightly  to  the  en- 
lightened or  not.  Art  is  saying  to  your  brother  what  God 
says  to  you.    The  vehicle  of  expression  does  not  signify." 

Thus,  when  there  are  in  the  child's  soul  real  experiences, 
thoughts,  feelings,  aspirations,  we  shall  have  the  basis  of  ex- 
pression thru  genuine  c(Hiiposition.  If  we,  to  the  child,  se- 
cure the  opportunity  for  spontaneous  expression,  he  will 
reveal  himself  to  us.  Essay  writing,  when  intelligently  con- 
ducted, will  prove  a  very  valuable  help  in  the  study  of  indi- 
vidual children.  Thru  their  expression,  we  shall  learn  to 
understand  what  their  impressions  have  been,  as  well  as  their 
characteristic  attitude,  their  nature  and  longings. 

There  is  another  side  to  this  which  is  shown  by  Prof.  Wm. 
James  in  these  words  :* 

"No  reception  without  reaction,  no  impression  without 
correlative  expression, — this  is  the  great  maxim  which  the 
teacher  ought  never  to  forget.  An  impression  which  simply 
flows  in  at  the  pupil's  eyes  or  ears,  and  in  no  way  modifies 
the  active  life,  is  an  impression  gone  to  waste.  It  is  physio- 
logically incomplete.  It  leaves  no  fruits  behind  it  in  the  way 
of  capacity  acquired.  Even  as  mere  impression  it  fails  to  pro- 
duce its  proper  effect  upon  the  memory;  for,  to  remain  fully 
amongst  the  acquisitions  of  this  latter  faculty,  it  must  be 
wrought  into  the  whole  cycle  of  our  operations.  Its  motor 
consequences  are  what  clinch  it.  .  .  .  No  impression 
without  expression,  then — .  .  .  The  expression  itself 
comes  back  to  us,  .  .  .  in  the  form  of  a  still  further 
impression,  namely,  of  what  we  have  done.  We  thus  receive 
sensible  news  of  our  behavior  and  its  results.  We  hear  the 
words  we  have  spoken,  feel  our  own  blow  as  we  give  it,  or 
read  the  success  or  failure  of  our  reactions  in  the  bystander's 
eyes.  Now,  this  return  wave  of  impression  pertains  to  the 
completeness  of  the  whole  existence." 


*"Talks  to  Teachers  on  Psychology." 


230      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

Attempts  at  expression,  it  will  be  seen,  are  a  means  to  clar- 
ify our  own  thoughts  and  feelings.  Everyone  of  us  will  have 
experienced  this.  As  soon  as  we  endeavor  to  communicate 
what  is  in  our  soul  to  others,  we  realize  many  an  indistinct- 
ness of  idea  and  incompleteness  of  argument.  By  putting 
our  thoughts  into  words,  we  develop  them  and  make  them 
more  definite.  Of  course,  in  mature  life  we  always  think  in 
words;  but  unless  we  endeavor  to  formulate  our  thoughts  in 
communicable  form,  these  words  will  be  relatively  indistinct, 
as  much  so  as  the  thought  itself.  There  is,  then,  a  reaction  of 
our  attempts  at  expression  upon  our  own  inner  self  which 
grows  thru  expression.  The  value  of  an  exchange  of  opinions, 
of  discussions,  does  not  only  lie  in  our  gaining  new  light  on 
the  subject  from  the  view-points  of  our  opponents,  but  in 
our  being  obliged  to  define  our  own  position  more  exactly  and 
to  adjust  it  to  opposing  argument.  This  is  perhaps  the  reason 
why  quite  generally  we  come  out  of  such  discussions  with 
our  own  opinions  considerably  confirmed  and  "stubborn- 
ized".  Again,  by  putting  our  emotions  into  clear-cut  words, 
we  shall  often  succeed  in  emerging  from  harassing  agitation 
of  heart,  harassing  because  vague  and  full  of  intoxicating,  or 
torturing,  imageries  and  indistinct  visions,  and  thus  we  are 
enabled  to  rise  above  them  and  master  them.  This  was  the 
way  in  which  one  of  the  world's  master-minds,  Goethe,  lib- 
erated himself  from  his  ephemeral  passions.  (Cf.  "Werthers 
Leiden."  ) 

Let  us  not  forget  that  of  a  vast  number  of  the  ideas  and 
impressions  dwelling  in  our  minds  we  must  confess  that  they 
are  characterized  by  vagueness  and  lack  of  outline.  Were  it 
not  so,  there  would  be  less  nonsense,  wavering,  and  irrational 
fancy  at  large.  Only  as  far  as  we  can  express  our  ideas  ade- 
quately, will  they  assume  a  certain  degree  of  rational  distinc- 
tion and  fertility — motive  power  for  rational  action.  Ex- 
pression in  words  is  almost  like  a  mathematical  test.  What 
remains  unuttered  and  vague  cannot  be  reasoned  about ;  only 
what  is  expressed  can  become  a  matter  of  argument.  It  is 
therefore  plain  enough  why  it  is  that  the  masters  of  expres- 
sion have  ever  been  the  leaders  of  thought,  and  vice  versa. 

Unquestionably,   definite   thought   depends   largely   upon 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       231 

definite  impressions — concrete  experiences  well  digested. 
There  is  a  physical,  or  sense,  basis  to  all  thinking.  "The 
Spartan  children,"  as  Edward  M.  Plummer*  shows,  "were 
superior  to  the  other  Greek  children  in  the  power  of  expres- 
sion, altho  they  were  not  so  highly  educated.  This  is  no 
doubt  due  to  the  fact  that  at  a  very  early  age  the  Spartan 
children  were  forced  into  a  free  life  in  the  open  air  and  to 
systematic  gymnastic  exercise." 

Before  we  can  expect,  then,  much  power  of  expression  we 
must  provide  ample  opportunities  for  wholesome  experience 
and  natural  conditions  of  growth. 

However,  without  proper  exercise,  the  faculty  of  adequate 
expression  will  never  be  fully  developed.  We  learn  to  swim 
by  swimming,  as  the  old  adage  has  it.  We  learn  to  talk  by 
talking;  we  learn  to  write  by  writing.  AflFord,  then,  the  chil- 
dren abundant  opportunity,  in  connection  with  all  other 
school  work,  to  express  themselves  in  oral  and  written  form. 
Encourage  them  to  say  and  write  out  what  they  know,  feel, 
hope,  aspire.  In  this  age  of  formal  book  drill,  the  child  has 
little  such  chance.  He  is  weighed  down  by  the  formulas, 
rules,  and  technical  exercises  which  are,  to  a  young  child, 
principally  a  tax  to  the  memory  without  appealing  to  interest 
and  imagination.  The  effect  is  deplorable  enough:  few  of 
our  elementary  school  pupils  attain  to  a  satisfactory  fluency 
in  expression,  and  even  the  poor  results  in  spelling  of  which 
the  so-called  modem  school  is  accused  are  largely  due  to  the 
fact  that  our  children  have  too  little  chance  for  using  the 
words  in  compositions  of  their  own.  Mechanical  spelling 
exercises  are  a  miserable  surrogate  for  free  application  of  the 
proper  terms  for  self-expression. 

There  is  need  of  caution,  however.  What  is  true  in  regard 
to  other  potential  activities  of  the  child,  is  also  true  of  his 
expression.  We  must  carefully  avoid  forcing  it  before  its 
time.  Expression,  like  every  other  faculty,  is  a  growth,  and 
premature  stimulation  will  either  produce  nervous  strain  or 
empty  babbling.    In  either  case,  the  natural  growths  will  be 


♦"Toys   and    Games   for   Children   among   the   Ancient   Hel- 
lenes," Amer.  Phys.  Educ.  Rev.,  Sept,  1898. 


232      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

arrested  or  perverted.  First  of  all,  children  must  take  in  a 
wealth  of  impressions.  They  cannot  readily  convert  these 
into  communicable  form.  The  young  child  is  mainly  recep- 
tive, and  quite  fragmentary  and  stumbling  in  expression.  He 
cannot  say  all  he  knows  or  feels,  or  say  it  in  a  form  which 
would  correspond  to  an  adult  standard.  His  thoughts,  and 
his  sentences,  lack  perspective  as  conspicuously  as  do  his  draw- 
ings, and  he  records  things  quite  out  of  natural  proportion 
and  relation. 

We  may  forgive  children  their  stammering  way  of  expres- 
sion the  more  readily,  the  more  clearly  we  recognize  the  often 
insurmountable  difficulties  which  even  adults  undergo  in  try- 
ing to  give  utterance  to  their  thoughts.  Our  deepest  feelings, 
notably  those  of  a  religious  character,  are  really  incommuni- 
cable, because  more  or  less  formless,  not  for  the  reason  that 
they  are  below  the  level  of  rational  definition,  but  that  they 
are  above  it, — transcendent,  metaphysical.  In  speaking  of 
them,  we  are  forced  to  employ  conventional  symbols  which 
are  quite  ambiguous,  and  mean  different  things  to  different 
people.  Thus,  the  terms  "God,"  "Nature,"  "destiny,"  "im- 
mortality," etc.,  will  forever  remain  indefinite,  and  therefore, 
unfortunately,  a  source  of  contentions  among  fanaticists. 

The  reader  is  referred  back  to  what  has  been  said  in  the 
foregoing  chapter  on  oral  work  to  precede  work  in  reading 
and  writing.  We  may  well  style  this  period  in  the  child's 
development  as  the  oral  age.  Likewise,  as  in  reading,  oral 
work  should  precede  written  work  in  composition.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  note  how  even  adults,  especially  those  who  have 
comparatively  little  practice  in  writing,  have  a  certain  horror 
of  the  blank  page  which  they  are  supposed  to  fill  with  expres- 
sions of  their  own  mind ;  how  even  practiced  poetasters  will 
often  rack  their  imagination  to  find  the  first  word  or  line  with 
which  to  break  the  horrid  white  monotony  of  the  empty  sheet 
of  paper.  This  horror  of  the  blank  page  is  quite  pronounced 
in  the  case  of  the  child  who  is  bidden  to  write  a  composition. 
But  if  he  has  gained  practise  in  oral  expression  and  learns 
that  a  written  composition  is  nothing  but  a  putting  down  in 
record-form  of  what  he  has  previously  expressed  by  word  of 
mouth,  this  horror  will  be  minimized.  The  child  may  be  asked 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      233 

to  reproduce  the  stories  he  was  told,  by  telling  them  back 
to  the  teacher,  or  to  the  class;  judicious  questions  will  elicit 
from  him  statements  as  to  his  experiences,  at  home,  in  the 
street,  in  school,  in  manual  work,  etc.  Thus  the  child  may 
be  led  to  express  himself  freely,  and  connectedly,  on  what 
he  has  done,  seen,  heard,  enjoyed,  etc. 

Details  may  be  gathered  up,  the  making  of  successive  state- 
ments should  be  constantly  encouraged,  and  gradually,  the 
idea  of  the  relation  of  one  to  the  other  statement  can  be  de- 
veloped. At  first,  all  statements  seem  co-ordinate:  the  child 
strings  them  up,  using  invariably  the  conjunction  "and". 
Then  comes  a  realization  of  the  subordinate  elements,  and 
other  conjunctions,  relative  phrases,  and  the  like  are  slowly 
introduced.  But  this  is  a  laborious  process.  Much  practice 
must  be  given  in  this  direction,  and  much  patience  and  cau- 
tion needs  to  be  exercised. 

A  helpful  practice  is  dictation  by  the  children  to  the 
teacher.  The  teacher  will  then  read  aloud  what  the  children 
have  dictated,  inviting  amendments.  This  will  arouse  the 
children's  desire  to  read  their  own  statements.  By  putting 
these  on  the  blackboard,  or  manifolding  them  on  the  type- 
writer, such  opportunity  can  be  provided ;  this  will  be  found 
a  simple  way  of  encouraging  and  simplifying  exercises  in  read- 
ing. The  children  will  of  course  more  easily  recognize  their 
own  sentences  than  they  would  foreign  matter.  Reading 
should  precede  writing;  there  is  absolutely  no  need  of  en- 
forcing a  copying  of  these  statements  by  the  children,  or  any 
writing  exercises  whatsoever,  at  this  stage;  indeed,  writing 
may  for  some  time  continue  to  be  hieroglyphic,  even  after 
reading  has  already  commenced  to  appreciate  alphabetical 
elements. 

In  the  gradual  transition  to  genuine  written  work,  letters 
will  probably  commend  themselves  as  the  first  form  of  this, 
as  they  are  in  the  nature  of  a  personal  eflFusion,  containing 
personal  elements  in  author  and  addressee.  In  fact,  letters, 
communications,  offer  the  first  incentive  to  writing. 

It  is  essential  that  clear  oral  and  written  statements  ac- 
company all  work  in  school.  "Kein  Tag  ohne  eine  Zeile!" 
(no  day  without  a  line)  was  the  suggestive  maxim  of  an  old 


234      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

German  teacher. 

It  does,  however,  not  impress  me  as  imperative  to  insist 
pedantically  on  complete  sentences  in  every  instance,  es- 
pecially not  when  such  statement  would  be  merely  a  repetition 
of  the  teacher's  question  in  affirmative  or  negative  form.  Yet 
constant  insistence  upon  good  language  is  absolutely  necessary. 
In  doing  this,  be  gentle  and  suggestive  rather  than  nagging 
and  pedantic.  Some  apparently  incorrect  expressions  used  by 
children,  even  certain  slang  forms,  altho  they  appear  antagon- 
istic to  adult  refinement,  have  peculiar  force.  And  it  is  not 
well  to  substitute  forever  conventional  phraseology  for  the 
spontaneous  ebullitions  of  childhood,  crude  and  uncouth  as 
they  may  seem.  Primitive  thought  needs  a  primitive  dress. 
An  Indian  in  a  stovepipe  is  an  absurdity. 

Rather  than  to  discourage  the  children  by  too  much  criti- 
cism, set  the  good  example  in  your  own  speech,  for  more  or 
less  unconscious  absorption  by  the  pupils.  Teachers  are  in 
this  respect,  unfortunately,  not  above  reproach,  by  any  means. 
Mr.  Percival  Chubb  is  authority  for  the  fact  that  many 
of  the  teachers  in  New  York  City  use  bad  English  habitually. 

With  discreet  guidance,  children  will  grow  in  mastery  of 
language.  No  doubt  there  are  drawbacks.  The  home  and 
street  environment  of  the  child  may  quickly  destroy  what  the 
teacher  has  builded  with  patient  toil.  Little  can  be  done  in 
this  respect,  and  the  teacher  must  be  satisfied  with  the  self- 
effacing  consciousness  of  having  done  his  best — unless  he  gain 
an  influence  over  home  and  community  by  co-ordinating  all 
educational  factors  in  a  harmonious  way. 

At  any  rate,  he  may  console  himself  with  the  reflection  that 
after  all  it  is  the  thought,  and  not  the  form,  which  is  the 
principal  thing.  Work  for  the  thought,  and  accept  individual 
forms  of  expression  be  they  ever  so  unconventional.  Even 
tho  germanisms  and  slang  forms  and  idiomatic  crudities  may 
abound :  as  long  as  there  is  evidence  of  some  careful,  rational 
thinking  and  organized  argument,  let  it  pass  without 
struggling  against  the  inevitable.  And  even  where  the  home 
and  street  conditions  are  most  favorable,  we  shall  have  to 
accept  many  a  deviation  from  conventional  modes,  and  shall 
have  to  exercise  discretion  in  correcting  the  children's  speech. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       235 

Patience  there  must  be  above  all  things ;  and  by  being  encour- 
aged in  good  reading  the  children  will  gradually  learn  to  use 
passably  good  form.     Says  Samuel  Thurber: 

"It  is  of  no  use  to  correct  young  children's  work  in  detail. 
Why  should  not  the  boy  or  girl  be  allowed  to  write  in  the 
boyish  or  girlish  way,  as  well  as  to  speak  in  the  boyish  or  girl- 
ish voice,  or  to  move,  to  sing,  to  dance,  in  the  boyish  or 
girlish  way?  The  pedant  corrects  young  compositions  into 
mature  molds — a  ridiculous  and  useless  labor.  You  will 
distinguish  between  things  positive,  like  spelling,  which  are 
distinctly  right  or  wrong,  and  things  relative  and  elastic,  like 
the  choice  of  words  and  phrases,  which  are  good  or  bad  ac- 
cording to  season  and  place.  ...  By  correcting  too  much 
you  may  easily  check  spontaneity." 

And  Prof.  Earl  Barnes  comments  as  follows  on  a  little 
girl's  letter: 

"The  girl  is  letting  her  soul  shine  out.  If  she  knew  that 
she  should  find  in  her  mother  a  critic  of  spelling,  punctuation, 
and  grammar,  she  could  not  write  in  this  way.  .  .  .  The 
arts  of  expression  are  mastered  only  by  expressing,  and  in  each 
of  them  one  must  pass  thru  a  period  of  blundering  before  he 
comes  out  into  the  field  of  perfect  mastery.  .  .  .  The 
pedagog  can  help  most  by  providing  incentive  and  then  by 
keeping  out  of  the  way.  His  aid  must  come,  here  a  little  and 
there  a  little — but  never  so  as  to  attract  attention  from  the 
doing  to  the  form.  .  .  .  We  spend  our  days  teaching  a 
child  how  to  write  "rite"  right,  and  thereby  destroy  his  abil- 
ity to  grow  by  going  out  thru  expression." 

In  order  to  train  the  children  in  doing  justice  to  tasks  in 
composition,  they  must  be  given  exercises  in  finding,  and  in 
arranging,  the  material.  Finding  the  material  is  easy  enough 
for  him  who  knows  how  to  use  reference  books,  indexes,  lists, 
and  bibliographies ;  who  has  learnt  to  skim  over  many  pages 
and  select  what  is  helpful  and  essential ;  who  is  master  over 
his  own  stock  of  stored  up  knowledge,  and  who  has  trained 
himself  to  find  on  short  notice  in  the  storehouse  of  his  own 
mind  the  impressions  and  thoughts  needful  for  a  present  dis- 
cussion. He  who  is  orderly  in  his  mental  possessions,  will 
be  ready  at  any  time  to  lay  his  grasp  on  the  wanted  material. 


236      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

But  the  child  has  to  slowly  acquire  these  habits  and  to  develop 
these  faculities,  and  it  is  our  office  as  teachers  of  composition 
to  assist  him  in  this  habituation  and  training. 

Arranging  the  material  is  practically  identical  with  finding 
it ;  for  unless  there  is  a  well-conceived  logical  order  of  the  sub- 
ject in  hand,  in  our  mind,  we  shall  never  succeed  in  discover- 
ing suitable  material;  or  perhaps  it  is  more  correct  to  say, 
finding  and  arranging  are  mutually  subservient, — the  one 
process  helps  the  other.  Of  little  children  whose  experience 
is  fragmentary  and  whose  thinking  is  incoherent  and  unre- 
lated, we  cannot  expect  a  proper  arrangement  of  argument. 
The  faculty  of  arranging  thoughts  in  a  rational  sequence  will 
grow  with  increasing  maturity.  We  may  help  this  develop- 
ment by  tabulating  in  an  orderly  manner  our  daily  lessons 
so  that  the  children  will  get  into  the  habit  of  storing  up  their 
knowledge  in  organized  groups. 

To  secure  unity  and  continuity  in  composition,  let  us  re- 
member, and  impress  it  upon  our  pupils,  that  an  essay,  or 
book,  must  express  virtually  one  thought,  not  a  promiscuous 
bundle  of  thoughts.  This  one  thought  may  be  subdivided,  or 
made  to  rest  on  a  host  of  subordinated  thoughts;  but  the  aim 
must  always  be  to  elucidate  the  one  main  idea.  A  composi- 
tion should  express  one  idea,  as  does  an  architectural  creation, 
or  a  painting,  or  a  drama;  and  unless  this  is  brought  out  in 
clear  shape,  the  composition  is  a  failure.  The  main  thought 
must  never  be  lost  in  a  jungle  and  wilderness  of  accessory 
ideas.  Of  a  composition,  much  more  truly  than  of  a  mere 
sentence,  can  it  be  said  that  it  expresses  a  complete  thought. 
It  is  always  in  the  nature  of  a  logical  syllogism:  there  must 
be  premises  and  a  conclusion.  There  must  be  a  fitting  in- 
troduction, a  body  of  substantial  argument,  well  articulated 
and  organized,  and  the  inference  from  all  the  foregoing  must 
crown  the  effort. 

It  is  beneficial  to  accompany  these  exercises  with  a  study  of 
examples  of  good  arrangement  and  style,  from  literature. 
Even  mere  reproductions  from  memory  are  helpful,  as  they 
will  illustrate,  and  clinch,  the  idea  of  sequence  of  thought. 
Reports  on  books  read,  in  school  or  at  home,  following  chap- 
ter after  chapter;  and  reports  on  supplementary  information 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       237 

to  assist  in  school  work,  all  these  will  contribute  to  the  same 
end,  viz.,  the  appreciation  of  proper  sequence,  and  the  train- 
ing in  suitable,  logical  arrangement  of  the  subject  matter. 

The  study  of  proper  forms  of  expression  will  be  enhanced 
by  experiments  in  altering  expressions  in  masterpieces  of  style, 
to  discover  whether  they  may  be  improved  upon,  and  if  not, 
as  will  be  found  to  be  the  case  in  the  great  majority  of  in- 
stances— why  not.  The  study  of  good  literature  generally 
will  have  a  purifying  effect  upon  juvenile  style.  But  let  us 
present  to  our  pupils  specimens  of  different  styles  rather  than 
dwell  too  long  on  a  few  selected  authors  lest  they  conform 
their  mode  of  expression  too  slavishly  and  conventionally  to 
some  one  of  these,  accepting  and  imitating  his  mannerisms 
no  less  than  his  elegancies,  and  sacrificing  their  own  indi- 
viduality. 

The  selection  of  themes  ought  to  present  no  difficulties. 
The  daily  experience  of  the  pupils  offers  boundless  opportun- 
ity for  work  in  composition.  Only  let  us  be  careful  not  to 
overreach  the  children's  ability.  Even  high  school  topics  are 
often  too  old,  requiring  more  mature  thought  and  more  com- 
prehensive experience  than  adolescent  boys  and  girls  can  possi- 
bly command. 

The  subjects  of  compositions,  in  the  same  way  as  the  form 
of  treatment,  must  be  allowed  to  accord  with  the  successive 
interests  of  the  children.  The  culture  epochs  are  dominant 
in  this  branch  as  they  are  in  reading,  and  practically  in  all 
branches  of  school  instruction.  This  regard  for  the  native 
developmental  interests  of  the  children  will  also  prevent  us 
from  forcing  absolutely  the  same  subject  upon  all  children, 
and  will  induce  us  to  provide  for  individual  selection.  Not 
every  pupil  will  approach  a  subject  with  the  same  degree  of 
eagerness  and  native  talent.  And  altho  it  would  be  proper 
to  give  from  time  to  time  such  class  exercises  as  will  afford 
needful  training  to  all  alike,  we  should  strive  to  secure  class 
results  by  the  co-operation  of  the  individuals  composing  the 
class,  each  working  within  his  own  sphere,  and  exchanging 
results  with  all  others,  much  rather  than  by  forcing  all  into 
the  same  narrow  groove. 

Of  composition  exercises,  there  are  two  kinds. 


238       THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

First,  STATEMENTS  OF  FACTS.  Here,  the  power 
of  observation,  and  of  giving  an  account  of  what  has  been  ob- 
served, comes  into  play.  To  require  such  statements,  involves 
a  training  of  the  judgment. 

"For  training  of  the  judgment,  it  is  of  course  necessary  that 
the  perceptions  be  first  educated.  .  .  .  Judgment  con- 
sists essentially  in  comparison,  and  it  is  consequently  by  com- 
parison that  we  must  train  this  faculty.  .  .  .  The  train- 
ing of  the  judgment  must  naturally  begin  by  a  comparison  of 
objects  with  which  the  child  is  familiar,  and  in  which  he  takes 
some  interest.  In  fact,  the  more  they  interest  him,  the  more 
profitable  the  lessons  will  be.  After  some  experience  with 
familiar  objects,  unfamiliar  or  abstract  ones  may  be  taken, 
their  difficulty  increasing  by  regular  gradations  until  we 
come  to  such  complex  cases  as  the  relative  goodness  or  badness 
of  some  supposed  action.  By  such  steps  it  will  be  found  an 
easy  matter  to  give  almost  any  child  a  sound  judgment."* 

Statements  of  facts  may  be  demanded  in  connection  with 
the  concrete  experiences  of  the  child — his  home  and  school 
life — observations  in  reference  to  science  and  geography — ex- 
periments— studies  in  history — manual  and  art  work,  etc. 
To  this  class  belong  also  those  clear-cut  lines  of  argument 
which  are  based  on  facts,  and  are  deductions  from  facts. 
These  statements  exclude  largely  the  personal  element,  at 
least  in  a  measure,  and  a  certain  degree  of  objectivity  of  view 
can  be  insisted  upon.  Yet,  in  all  combinations  of  facts,  the 
creative  and  imaginative  faculities  come  into  play.  Even  in 
mere  statements,  the  personal  equation  cannot  be  altogether 
excluded,  as  all  facts  have  first  to  become  internalized,  sub- 
jectified, before  they  can  become  possessions  of  our  mind. 

In  matters  of  conclusions  and  demonstrations,  the  personal 
equation  often  becomes  decisive.  What  may  be  true  and  con- 
vincing to  me,  need  not  be  so  to  you.  This  is  a  matter  of  in- 
dividual constitution  and  attitude.  We  must  reject  the  same 
in  our  children. 


♦Clement  Fezandie,  "Mental  Education,"  School  Jrl.,  Oct.  6, 
1894. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       239 

Thus  we  have,  as  the  second  class: 

CREATIVE  AND  IMAGINATIVE  WORK  in  com- 
position. The  psychological  basis  for  this  is  elucidated  in  the 
following  extract  from  the  proceedings  of  the  Illinois  Society 
for  Child  Study,  1899,  ("Imagination  and  Education") : 

"It  is  not  simply  the  image-'xmXxon  involved  in  perception 
and  memory,  but  it  is  most  solidly  based  upon  this.  Indeed, 
at  first  the  images  are  brought  into  consciousness  as  memories 
of  what  has  been  experienced  thru  the  action  of  the  senses. 
Repeated  reproductions  of  this  kind,  with  little  emphasis  upon 
the  time  and  place  in  which  the  original  sense-experiences 
were  gained,  tend  to  free  these  memory  images  from  their 
connection  with  real  material — to  give  them  a  purely  ideal 
existence,  and  thus  prepare  them  for  new  combinations. 
Thereupon,  interest  transforms  these  released  images  into 
novel  and  hitherto  unexperienced  products.  Some  of  these 
products  are  images  of  actual  material  existence.  Others  have 
an  ideal  existence  only.  Such  images  as  these,  the  results  of 
this  dissociative  and  recombining  process  carried  on  without 
any  unusual  or  phenomenal  emotional  activity,  constitute  a 
very  large  part  of  the  'mind-stuff'  of  the  ordinary  mortal. 
These  images,  to  an  inconceivably  greater  degree  than  the 
pure  memory  images  in  which  they  had  their  origin,  constitute 
the  'stock  in  trade'  in  the  fundamental  part  of  all  educative 
effort." 

The  final  outgrowth  of  this  kind  of  work  would  be  genuine 
fancy,  which,  when  normally  developed,  wholesome,  and  in 
accord  with  the  natural  instincts  of  the  race,  produces  poetic 
conceptions ;  but  when  morbid  or  abnormal  in  some  way,  will 
degenerate  into  fallacies^  delusions,  and  insanity.  Here,  dis- 
creet guidance  is  most  needed. 

We  should,  however,  recognize  that,  by  younger  children, 
fact  and  fancy  are  yet  undistinguished.  They  live  in  a  world 
little  explored  by  experience,  and  largely  imaginary.  They 
are  apt  to  project  their  own  personality  unhesitatingly  into 
the  objects  around  them.  They  play  with  imaginary  com- 
panions as  readily  as  with  wooden  dolls  which  they  endow 
with  the  semblance  of  life.    In  his  very  instructive  study  on 


240      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

the  early  sense  of  self,  President  Stanley  Hall*  gives  these 
valuable  hints: 

"The  dramatic  passion  is  almost  universal  with  children. 
They  personate  all  kinds  of  people,  and  imitate  even  defects. 
.  .  .  It  seems  as  if  children  sometimes  hate  to  have  or  be 
a  self;  felt  that  personality  was  not  essence  but  phenomenon, 
and  before  they  attain  the  virtue  of  unfolding  what  is 
peculiar  to  self,  strove  to  develop  what  is  common  to  all  the 
species;  feel  reluctance  to  be  merely  a  specimen  of  a  type,  and 
experience  a  touch  of  the  sublime  indifference  of  nature  and 
of  philosophy.  ...  In  their  plays  children  even  become 
a  post,  street-lamp,  rock,  chair,  mirror,  table,  tree,  etc.  .  . 
A  girl  of  six  passionately  felt  that  she  could  and  would  not 
be  herself;  because  it  was  too  dreadful.  .  .  .  Girls  fre- 
quently wish  to  be  boys,  and  often  expect  to  be  when  they 
grow  older,  or  fear  they  may  become  boys.  Others  fear  at 
night  that  they  will  wake  up  someone  else  in  the  morning. 
.  .  .  These  phenomena  are  hard  to  interpret,  but  suggest 
that  childhood  is  generic  and  full  of  promise  and  potency  of 
many  kinds  of  personality  and  consciousness  before  the  shades 
of  the  prison-house  close  in  upon  it.  .  .  .  (There  is) 
a  longing  for  the  broadest  possible  basis  of  experience  and  to 
touch  life  at  every  possible  point,  even  if  it  be  vicariously." 

This  longing,  and  the  capacity  for  vicarious  experience 
should  be  made  use  of  in  composition  work.  And,  with  the 
proper  direction  on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  it  will  serve  to 
strengthen  the  child's  consciousness  of  self,  to  widen  his  hori- 
zon, to  direct  his  gaze  upon  the  ideal,  to  broaden  his  selfish 
instincts  to  embrace  the  destiny  of  the  race. 

Composition  is  a  means  of  self-expression,  no  doubt.  But 
in  every  attempt  at  doing  this,  the  child  will  become  more 
conscious  of  his  limitations  the  older  he  grows,  and  the  less 
fancy  supplies  what  his  own  circumscribed  experience  and 
personality  cannot.  Composition,  therefore,  is  also  a  means 
of  self-knowledge  and  self-control.  It  teaches  the  child  how 
vast  is  the  material  from  which  he  may  draw;  how  small  an 
amount  thereof  he  can  make  serviceable  to  himself;  how  im- 


*Amer.  Jrl.  of  Psych.,  IX,  3. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       241 

perative  is  proper  care  in  selection,  and  how  insignificant  and 
needful  of  adjustment  is  his  own  individual  opinion.  He 
will,  at  least  may  or  ought  to,  realize  that  not  every  problem 
which  he  undertakes  to  grapple  with,  is  capable  of  ready  so- 
lution thru  his  individual  effort,  and  that  he  must  be  satisfied 
with  an  honest  searching  after  truth,  and  with  contributing 
his  mite  towards  making  a  later  solution  approachable — that 
all  he  may  do  is  to  establish  more  clearly  in  his  own  mind  the 
principles,  logical  and  ethical,  upon  which  all  rational  ma- 
turity rests,  and  become  more  and  more  conscious  of  true 
composition  being  a  difficult  art — one  of  the  many  ways  by 
which  a  thought,  an  idea,  an  ideal,  can  be  crystalized,  and 
for  which  each  individual  has  a  different  aptitude.  "The  con- 
scious utterance  of  thought  by  speech  or  action,  to  any  end, 
is  art,"  says  Emerson.  And  Holland  has  this  thought  in  his 
essay  on  "Art  and  Life" :  "The  temple  of  art  is  built  of  words. 
Painting  and  sculpture  and  music  are  but  the  blazen  of  its 
windows  borrowing  all  ther  significance  from  the  light,  and 
suggestive  only  of  the  temple's  uses." 

The  closing  words  for  this  chapter  may  be  quoted  from 
Bulwer  Lytton :  "Art  in  fact  is  the  effort  of  man  to  express 
the  ideas  which  Nature  suggests  to  him  of  a  power  above 
Nature,  whether  that  power  be  within  the  recesses  of  his  own 
being,  or  in  the  Great  First  Cause  of  which  Nature,  like  him- 
self, is  but  the  effect." 

The  true  artist,  however,  is  the  most  humble  of  men. 


CHAPTER  XV 

) 

Grading  and  Promotion 

THE  traditional  grades,  with  their  system  of  pro- 
motions according  to  stereotyped  rules,  are  incon- 
sistent with  the  natural  development  of  the  child. 
This  has  been  very  strongly  urged  long  ago  by 
Prof.  W.  S.  Jackson,  in  his  article,  "The  School 
Grade  a  Fiction."    Said  he,  among  other  things: 

"It  is  evident  that  the  fundamental  thing  in  the  concep- 
tion of  a  school  grade,  as  at  present  recognized,  is  an  arbitrary 
unit  of  time.     .     .     . 

"So  far,  all  attempts  made  to  prepare  a  course  of  study 
close  fitting  to  each  grade  have  ended  in  disappointment.  .  .  . 
"It  is  certainly  open  to  question  whether  skill  should  be 
taken  into  serious  account  at  all  in  establishing  grades.  Skill 
is  a  variable  quantity  with  the  same  pupil  in  different  sub- 
jects." 

The  evils  of  the  present  system  have  long  been  recognized 
by  observing  teachers,  but  it  has  been  found  signally  difficult 
to  solve  the  problem  of  how  to  re-adjust  matters.  In  mass- 
instruction,  there  is  need  of  some  system  of  grouping  the 
pupils;  and  as  there  is  everywhere  a  tendency  to  be  economi- 
cal as  to  the  number  of  teachers  employed,  the  breaking  up  of 
the  mass  into  small  groups  has  been  found  inconvenient.  The 
greatest  obstacle,  however,  has  always  been  the  routine  stand- 
ard of  proficiency  forced  upon  the  pupils,  and  the  unelastic 
character  of  the  courses  of  instruction. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  individualize  and  to 
promote  within  the  grades.  The  grades  have  been  subdivided 
into  divisions,  two  or  three  in  a  grade.    This  works  well  in  a 

242 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      243 

certain  way,  but  means  an  additional  burden  to  the  teacher 
who  has  so  many  more  recitations  to  hear.  "Our  children", 
says  Julia  Richman,  "are  so  accustomed  to  giving  close  at- 
tention to  the  teacher  that,  when  separated  into  groups,  their 
minds  invariably  wander  from  their  own  tasks  to  listen  to  the 
instruction  given  to  some  other  group."  Then  again,  complete 
systems  have  been  devised  to  give  the  "brighter"  pupils  the 
chance  of  advancing  more  rapidly  than  the  slower  ones.  Presi- 
dent Elliot,  of  Harvard,  and  Superintendent  Shearer,  of 
Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  have  developed  and  introduced  plans  of  this 
kind. 

Miss  Julia  Richman  describes  what  she  calls  a  "successful 
experiment  in  promoting  pupils,"  as  made  in  Public  School 
No.  77,  New  York.  She  placed  the  brighter  pupils  of  one 
grade  in  a  room  by  themselves,  and  the  poorer  ones  also. 
Where  there  were  enough  pupils  in  one  grade  to  warrant  the 
establishment  of  more  than  two  separate  grade  rooms,  she 
divided  them  accordingly.  Individual  attention,  advancement, 
and  promotion,  were  thus  secured.  The  objection  that  a  plan 
like  this  were  possible  only  in  a  large  school  is  not  very  valid. 
There  might  be  consolidations  made  of  several  grades  from 
neighboring  schools;  and  then,  by  stretching  the  idea  of 
"grade",  it  would  be  feasible  to  put  the  "bright"  pupils  of 
two  or  more  grades  into  one  group  by  themselves  and  to  ad- 
just the  course  of  study  accordingly,  expecting  that  they 
would  cover  the  ground  in  less  time,  while  the  slower  ones 
would  be  given  proportionately  more  time.  All  this  can  be 
accomplished  in  some  way,  as  long  as  the  purpose  of  the 
school  is  considered  to  be  mainly  the  imparting  of  knowledge, 
the  giving  of  information.  Some,  the  so-called  brighter 
pupils,  will  absorb  this  more  quickly  than  others.  The  mere 
information  school  will  permit  of  plans  like  this:  Out  of  a 
class  of  228  pupils  completing  eighth  grade  work  in  Seattle 
on  the  once  famous  "Shearer  plan"  i.  e.,  promoting  any  day 
when  the  pupil  is  fitted,  thirty-one  did  it  in  six  years,  seventy- 
eight  in  seven  years,  seventy  in  eight  years,  nineteen  in  nine 
years,  eight  in  ten  years,  and  two  in  eleven  years.* 


►Quoted  in  Child  Study  Monthly,  Sept,  1898. 


244      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

There  are,  however,  serious  objections  to  this  plan.  The 
practice  of  allowing  the  "bright"  ones  to  proceed  at  break- 
neck speed,  may  do  them  more  injury  than  good.  Our  ordi- 
nary school  education  is  hot-bed  culture  at  best,  a  driving  of 
children  along  the  path  of  adult-invented  systems  and  stand- 
ards into  nervous  collapse  and  depletion.  Surely,  we  may 
succeed  in  stuffing  some  of  our  pupils  with  facts  and  rules 
and  definitions  and  names  and  dates  at  an  increasingly  higher 
rate  of  speed,  and  in  graduating  them  a  year  or  two  earlier, 
so  that  we  shall  finally  promote  to  our  high  schools  children 
who  have  hardly  entered  their  teens,  and  on  to  college  boys 
in  knee-pants,  and  girls  in  short  skirts  and  long  braids.  But 
that  would  be  a  generation  of  neurotics,  of  precocious  im- 
beciles and  blase  fools, — such  ones  as  are  sometimes  intro- 
duced to  the  readers  of  funny  papers  as  "genuine  Bostonians" 
who  play  with  the  diflFerential  calculus  at  an  age  when  nor- 
mal children  play  with  dolls  and  building  blocks. 

What  sort  of  children  do  we  call  "bright",  after  all? 
"Bright"  is  an  ambiguous  term.  It  may  mean  a  retentive 
memory  which  absorbs  quickly  like  a  sponge  and  may  as  easily 
be  squeezed  empty.  Or  it  may  be  applied  to  the  ready  talker 
who  can  make  much  ado  about  nothing  and  dazzle  us  with 
the  eloquence  of  empty  phrases.  Or  "bright"  may  be  taken 
to  be  synonomous  with  "quick"  referring  to  the  shorter  re- 
action time  of  such  individuals.  It  is  a  well  known  fact  in 
physics  that  some  liquids  boil  at  a  lower  temperature 
than  others.  Likewise,  some  individuals  respond  more 
quickly  to  excitations  than  others.  But  the  term  "bright" 
is  surely  not  in  every  case  identical  with  "mature."  And  is 
not  maturity  the  thing  we  strive  for? 

Under  the  caption,  "Speed  as  an  Element  of  Weakness," 
Dr.  M.  W.  Van  Denburg  has  contributed  an  investigation, 
which  he  introduces  by  the  scriptural  quotation,  "The  race  is 
not  always  to  the  swift,  nor  the  battle  to  the  strong;  .  .  . 
nor  yet  favor  to  men  of  skill ;  but  time  and  chance  happen- 
eth  to  them  all."  Among  other  things,  he  says  this  in  the 
course  of  his  argument: 

"If  Charles  Darwin  were  a  pupil  in  one  of  our  public 
schools  to-day,  the  chances  are  nine  out  of  ten,  that  he  would 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      245 

be  set  down  as  a  very  commonplace,  dull  boy.  His  mind 
always  moved  slowly  and  with  extreme  caution  from  his 
earliest  school  days.     This  was  his  individual  constitution. 

"If  John  Stuart  Mill  and  Herbert  Spencer  were  two  boys 
in  the  same  grade,  Mill,  who  would  be  several  years  younger 
than  Spencer — and  who  for  a  moment  doubts  that  the  bril- 
liant, ready,  quick-witted  Mill  would  far  outstrip  the  shy, 
nervous,  plodding  Spencer:  the  one  would  become  a  petted 
little  pedant,  and  the  other  would  be  plunged  into  the  deep- 
est discouragement.  These  are  not  altogether  fancy 
sketches.     .     .     . 

"Nothing  is  more  certain  in  psychology  than  the  vast  dif- 
ference in  the  rate  of  speed  at  which  different  minds  work. 
This  is  not  all  a  habit  by  any  means.  It  is  to  a  far  greater 
degree  an  endowment.* 

"Suppose  in  public  examinations  as  much  time  was  given 
as  is  desired  by  each  applicant,  and  thereby  quiet  of  mind  on 
this  point  assured.  Suppose  in  school  work  the  difference 
in  natural  endowment,  in  physical  energy,  in  physical  health, 
in  previous  training,  in  home  training,  and,  above  all,  the 
natural  gait  of  the  mind  were  taken  into  account  in  each  case. 
Suppose  accuracy,  and  reliability,  and  completeness  of  grasp 
and  sincerity  of  purpose  were  put  in  their  proper  places  in 
estimating  the  value  of  work  accomplished,  the  Darwins 
would  not  then  always  be  set  down  as  dunces,  neither  would 
the  Mills  so  enormously  out-rank  the  Spencers."* 

There  is,  as  has  been  shown  in  a  previous  chapter,  a  phy- 
sical basis  for  precocity  and  dullness.  Prof.  W.  Townsend 
Porter  has  shown  that  the  more  successful  pupils  are  taller 
as  well  as  heavier  than  dull  children,  that  they  have  larger 


•Stanley  Hall  speaks  in  this  respect  of  the  "individual  rhythm." 
G. 

♦It  may  be  interesting  to  consult  in  this  connection  what  the 
author  of  this  volume  has  said  about  the  system  of  valuing, 
grading,  and  promoting  pupils  as  worked  out  by  him  in  the 
Ethical  Culture  Schools  of  New  York,  and  set  forth  in  his 
little  book,  "A  Working  System  of  Child  Study  for  Schools," 
Bardeen,  Syracuse,  1897. 


246      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

chests,  and  greater  width  of  heads.  He  recommends  that 
grading  be  based  rather  upon  height  and  weight,  i.  e.,  on  a 
determination  of  the  physical  develc^ment  of  the  individual, 
than  upon  his  age  or  accomplishments.  His  tables  also  prove 
that  the  children  approaching  the  average  weight  of  their 
age  are  found  at  least  one  grade  lower  than  our  artificial 
system  of  grading  would  have  it.  Thus,  the  seven  year  old 
child  of  average  weight  (47.73  lbs.)  is  found  in  the  first 
grade,  not  in  the  second.  Those  children  of  seven,  who 
have  reached  the  second  grade,  are  above  the  average  weight. 
The  boy  of  average  weight,  10  years  old,  is  in  the  third 
grade;  of  12  years,  in  the  fourth;  while  at  puberty,  there 
are  great  variations. 

All  this  proves  that  real  success  and  progress  is  a  matter  of 
biological  development  whereby  mental  and  physical  pro- 
cesses are  intimately  related.  In  other  words,  instead  of 
mistaking  one-sided  brilliancy  for  an  evidence  of  satisfactory 
progress,  we  should  consider  progress  largely  as  a  process  of 
maturing.  It  is  power,  not  information  and  examinable 
knowledge,  by  which  we  must  gauge  a  child's  fitness  for 
higher  tasks. 

The  culture  epoch  theory  as  set  forth  in  previous  chapters 
will  be  a  safer  guide  for  a  rational  system  of  grading  than 
anything  else.  We  have  seen  that  there  are  distinct  devel- 
opmental stages  in  the  life  of  a  child,  and  that  these  do  not 
closely  correspond  to  average  ages,  at  any  rate  that  they  do 
not  follow  each  other  in  annual  progression.  Some  are  longer 
and  some  are  shorter.  It  would,  therefore,  seem  to  be  the 
simplest  plan  to  establish  groups  in  accordance  with  these 
natural  periods.  May  be  that  this  will  be  the  outcome  of 
the  present  confusion  when  once  we  shall  be  better  able  to 
apply  psychological  criteria  to  the  daily  practice  of  the  school 
room.  It  is  obvious  that  there  is  one  main  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  such  an  arrangement,  viz.  the  fact  that  not  any  two 
children  pass  thru  these  developmental  stages  in  exactly  the 
same  way,  at  the  same  age,  or  at  the  same  rate  of  speed.  The 
school  groups  would  therefore  never  be  thoroly  homogeneous 
— there  will  forever  be  a  need  of  continuous  re-adjustment 
and  individualization  even  under  the  most  perfect  system. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      247 

The  difficulty  will  be  largely  overcome  when  we  have  an 
elastic  and  rational  course  of  instruction,  arranged  in  con- 
centric circles,  where  information  is  insisted  upon  only  to  the 
limit  of  actual  necessity;  when  due  care  is  taken  to  recognize 
individual  talents  and  powers;  when  there  can  be  instan- 
taneous adjustment  and  readjustment  to  the  varying  needs 
of  individual  groups.  It  is  the  author's  opinion  that  a  system 
of  special  teachers  would  often  be  better  suited  for  such  re-ad- 
justments than  the  one-sided  class-teacher  system.  The  special 
teacher  has  the  larger  perspective  of  his  work  in  various 
parallel  and  successive  groups  of  pupils;  and  can  therefore 
fit  it  better  to  these  various  needs,  keeping  his  final  aim 
steadily  in  view. 

While  we  need  not  at  once  give  up  the  grade  system, 
adapting  it  gradually  to  our  increasing  enlightenment  con- 
cerning the  problem  under  discussion,  we  may  even  now 
supplement  it  by  the  establishment  of  ungraded  classes  which 
can  be  considered  as  the  safety-valves  of  the  system.  Here 
may  be  placed,  under  the  direction  of  particularly  well-qual- 
ified teachers,  those  children  who  for  one  reason  or  another 
cannot  keep  pace  with  mass,  and  where  they  may  be  re-ad- 
justed, or  for  that  matter,  receive  individual  attention.  Such 
ungraded  classes  will  prove  particularly  welcome  where  there 
are  older  pupils  entering  the  school  whose  maturity  is  well 
advanced  while  they  may  need  some  coaching  in  rudimen- 
tary arts.  Again,  ungraded  classes  will  be  found  helpful  in 
the  treatment  of  mildly  atypical  children.  There  may  even 
be  special  classes  for  precocious  pupils,  where  they  would 
receive  an  educational  treatment  suited  to  their  needs.  For 
even  they  may  be  considered  as  atypical. 

These  considerations  will  throw  light  on  the  problem  of 
promotions,  and  the  principles  upon  which  they  should  be 
based.  Heretofore,  and  in  fact  up  to  the  present  day,  exam- 
inations and  percentage  marks  have  been  the  main,  or  only 
means  for  determining  promotion  lists.  Originally,  examina- 
tions, held  at  the  end  of  the  grade  term,  were  the  exclusive 
criterion.  When  the  viciousness  of  this  system  began  to  be 
recognized,  promotion  was  based  upon  a  combination  of 
daily  marks  and  examination  records.     Or,  to  mitigate  the 


248      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

evils  of  the  chance  results  of  the  one  "examination  for  pro- 
motion," there  were  instituted  series  of  tests,  or  a  multiplicity 
of  examinations  in  the  course  of  a  term,  the  average  of  which 
was  then  taken.  Of  course,  these  examinations  were  fit 
merely  to  test  the  capacity  of  the  pupil  to  absorb,  and  repro- 
duce, information;  and  the  substitution  of  many  tests  for 
one  final  examination  meant  as  much  as  driving  the  devil 
out  by  means  of  Be-elzebub.  According  to  Dr.  Sturgis, 
among  the  incidents  of  school  life  apt  to  be  injurious  and 
productive  of  chorea,  there  stand  out  prominently  ( i )  writ- 
ten examinations;  (2)  moving  into  higher  classes.* 

The  question  of  examinations  as  tests  of  fitness,  and  of 
their  effect  upon  the  pupils,  is  so  serious  a  one  that  the  au- 
thor may  be  permitted  to  quote  further  from  authoritative 
sources,  so  as  to  elucidate  the  situation.  An  examination 
has  been  called  a  "periodical  inspection  of  results",  "a  kind  of 
intellectual  dress  parade."  It  is  claimed  that  such  a  day 
of  reckoning  is  needed  as  otherwise  the  pupil,  following  the 
line  of  least  resistance,  would  never  make  an  effort  to  con- 
centrate his  thoughts  and  organize  the  results  of  his  daily 
study.  The  pupil,  in  an  examination,  is  required  to  be 
ready  for  the  occasion,  to  have  perfect  command  of  his  re- 
sources, to  meet  a  crisis,  to  be  willing  to  submit  his  work 
and  his  character,  as  shown  in  his  work,  to  the  most  search- 
ing scrutiny.  In  this  way,  an  examination  resembles  the 
trials  of  life,  so  that,  even  tho  it  may  cause  difficulty  and 
suffering,  it  has  its  inestimable  value  even  to  the  school 
child  for  the  purpose  of  character  training. 

The  question  may  arise  whether,  what  may  perhaps  be 
well  suited  to  the  age  of  college  and  university  students, 
would  be  equally  adapted  to  the  nature  and  needs  of  ele- 
mentary children. 

Prof.  Friedrich  Paulsen,  of  Berlin,  recognizes  the  value 
of  school  examinations  proper,  those  which  arise  entirely  out 
of  the  exigencies  of  the  instruction  and  have  purely  didac- 
tic ends.    But  against  all  other  kinds,  including  examinations 


*Cf.  Will  S.  Monroe,  "Chorea  among  Public  School  Children," 
Amer.  Phys.  Educ.  Rev.,  Ill,  i. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       249 

for  positions,  he  raises  grave  objections.  Among  these  are: 
I.  The  examination  changes  the  mental  attitude  of  the  stu- 
dent to  the  subject.  The  prospect  of  being  examined  neces- 
sarily turns  his  attention  from  the  subject-matter  itself  and 
fixes  it  upon  the  examination;  it  therefore  takes  on  a  more 
external  meaning.  ...  2.  The  examination  gives  to 
previous  study  a  tendency  to  be  superficial  and  directed  to 
what  lends  itself  to  recitation.  The  knowledge  that  can  be 
"shown  off"  counts  for  the  most.  .  .  .  3.  In  all  exam- 
inations the  most  successful  are  those  who  come  to  them 
without  strong  tendencies  or  gifts  in  any  direction,  but  who 
tread  the  even  path  of  mediocrity,  whereas  natures  with  un- 
mistakable and  decided  originality  and  special  talents  often 
suflFer  under  them. 

"Why,"  says  "the  shade  of  Socrates,"  in  an  interview  with 
Wm.  Hawley  Smith,*  "I  have  been  shocked  beyond  measure, 
a  thousand  times,  as  I  have  seen  your  young  men  and  maid- 
ens go  thru  the  process  of  what  they  call  'cramming  for  ex- 
aminations.' For  a  few  days  before  the  test  of  their  attain- 
ments they  pore  over  their  books,  filling  themselves  with 
words,  even  as  a  toad  fills  herself  with  wind,  till  it  would 
seem  that  the  addition  of  another  iota  would  burst  them. 
And  then  they  sit  down  and  write  for  an  hour,  using  what 
of  the  pent-up  matter  within  them  they  may  be  able  to  com- 
mand, in  their  present  distended  condition;  after  which,  the 
ordeal  over,  they  open  the  safety  valve  of  forgetfulness,  and 
in  a  week  after  they  are  as  lank  and  flabby  on  the  subject, 
and  as  unable  to  stand  alone  and  say  their  say  regarding  it, 
as  an  empty  meal  sack  is  without  ability  to  erect  itself,  and 
out  of  its  nothingness  to  fill  the  bin." 

On  the  score  of  the  physical  dangers,  we  should  be  re- 
minded that  the  school  girl  is  one  of  the  most  unfortunate 
victims  of  the  pernicious  system,  and  that  examinations  are 
often  responsible  for  lasting  menstrual  disorders.  Just  at 
the  time  when  the  pubescent  girl  should  be  free  from  the 
cramped  conditions  of  the  school  room,  she  is  subjected  to  the 
trials  of  the  grammar  grades,  with  a  daily  strain  of  studies 


*Educ.  Rev.,  March,  1897. 


250      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

and  tests.  Examinations  are  threatening  and  harassing  her 
mind  at  periods  when  she  should  have  rest  and  should  not 
worry.  The  anticipation  of  possible  failure  is  working  mis- 
chief of  the  most  unpardonable  kind.  For  the  menstruating 
school  girl  of  pubescent  years  is  apt  to  be  emotionally  over- 
strung, and  to  be  given  to  hysterical  exaltation,  both  upward 
and  downward — towards  exultation  as  well  as  towards  mel- 
ancholia. The  "blues"  are  a  distinct  functional  disease.  And 
on  the  very  day  of  the  examination,  there  are  always  many 
girls  in  every  class  or  school  who  are  at  a  decided  disadvan- 
tage. 

A  teacher  meeting  a  pupil  who  had  taken  a  Bryn  Mawr 
examination  in  algebra  the  day  before,  asked  to  see  the  paper, 
and  inquired  what  she  had  done.  "Why  did  you  leave 
out  this  problem"  said  the  teacher.  The  pupil  said  that 
it  had  looked  puzzling  to  her.  "Try  it",  said 
the  teacher.  In  five  minutes  the  young  girl  had 
solved  it  correctly,  and  had  written  it  out  neatly. 
For  want  of  that  cool  five  minutes,  she  failed  in  her  exam- 
ination, and  had  to  study  algebra  another  year. 

Of  course  some  may  claim  that,  examinations  being  a  test 
of  character,  and  approximating  the  actual  experiences  of 
life,  this  result  is  perfectly  legitimate.  But  we  may  reply  to 
this  that  after  all,  it  was  not  the  girl's  presence  of  mind,  but 
her  algebra,  that  was  being  examined,  and  that  for  a  defi- 
ciency of  character  the  punishment,  to  make  her  study  alge- 
bra another  year,  knowing  it  well  enough  as  she  did,  is  ab- 
surd, to  say  the  least.  Forcing  a  student  to  go  over  the 
same  ground  again  is  justifiable  only  when  the  proof  of 
lack  of  mastery  is  given. 

Of  the  injustice,  deceptiveness,  and  viciousness  of  the 
marking  system,  especially  in  percentages,  much  has  already 
been  said.  It  will  never  enable  us  to  size  up  a  child's  pro- 
gress adequately  and  fairly,  and  it  establishes  a  false  incentive 
for  the  child. 

As  soon  as  we  realize  that  the  proper  test  for  promotion 
has  reference  to  general  maturity,  we  shall  understand  that 
neither  examinations  nor  marks  will  serve  as  a  safe  basis, 
that  these  are,  at  best,  merely  accessories. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      251 

Deficienq'  in  one,  or  even  several  subjects  should  never 
be  taken  as  a  cause  for  holding  a  pupil  back  unless  there  is 
very  unmistakable  evidence  of  general  immaturity.  Let  us 
remember  that  there  are  distinctly  different  tj^ies  of  chil- 
dren. Will  you  prevent  a  non-mathematical  child  from  go- 
ing on  in  language,  geography,  history,  art  and  science  be- 
cause he  is  weak  in  computation  ?  Or  must  the  constitutional 
bad  speller  be  prohibited  from  grappling  with  mathematical 
and  scientific  problems  that  would  rouse  forth  his  intensest 
interest  and  native  genius,  for  the  reason  that  he  cannot 
readily  recognize  a  bare  bear  or  a  fair  fare?  Mere  repetition 
is  unprofitable  under  most  circumstances;  it  is  usually  better 
to  provide  for  new  opponunities  of  applying  the  unmastered 
art ;  these  new  opportunities  will  bring  about  new  revelations 
and  call  forth  fresh  effort.  And  have  we  never  heard  of 
unexpected  awakenings? 

Holding  back  a  child  in  a  lower  class  means  to  tie  him 
to  interests  which  he  has  outgrown.  It  is  as  a  rule  much 
wiser  to  trust  to  his  ability  to  go  on  with  his  class  to  higher 
work  than  to  keep  him  back.  He  may  grow  with  the  de- 
mands made  upon  him;  only  when  discovered  to  be  a  failure 
in  the  next  class  should  he  be  placed — not  necessarily  back 
into  the  previous  grade,  but  into  an  ungraded  class  where  his 
special  deficiency  may  receive  proper  attention  while  he  will 
do  the  work  of  his  class  in  all  those  branches  which  he  has 
mastered  sufficiently.  Should  it  become  evident  that  in  cer- 
tain things  he  can  make  no  noticeable  progress  at  the  time, 
teachers  ought  not  to  worry,  but  simply  leave  him  alone. 
This  may  sound  heretic  from  the  standpoint  of  the  tradi- 
tional school,  but  is  surely  just  in  regard  to  the  needs  of  the 
individual.  We  cannot  make  every  one  conform  to  a  com- 
mon standard. 

There  are,  as  we  know,  maximum  and  minimum  periods 
in  the  life  of  every  child.  An  apparent  falling  back,  dullness, 
or  arrest  of  development  may  be  due  to  a  minimum  activity 
at  the  time  being.  With  such  children  we  must  have  pa- 
tience. The  dull  spell  may  not  last  long — there  may  be  a 
process  of  unconscious  adjustment  going  on  within  which 
will  make  him  blossom  out  in  the  next  grade  so  as  to  sur- 


252      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

prise  us,  especially  when  we  allow  him  to  develop  along 
the  lines  of  his  special  capacities  and  interests.  In  winter, 
the  trees  and  plants  are  seemingly  asleep.  Will  you  force 
their  foliage  and  blossoms  before  Spring  touches  them  with 
his  magic  wand? 

It  has  been  said  to  be  a  common  experience  among  tele- 
graph operators  that  when  they  first  learn  their  professiwi 
there  will  come  a  period  when  they  will  make  apparently  no 
progress  at  all,  when  everything  seems  difficult,  desperately 
so,  and  their  professional  education  seems  to  have  come  to  a 
standstill.  But  all  of  a  sudden,  the  veil  will  be  lifted,  as 
it  were,  and  they  will  at  once  not  only  regain  their  former 
skill,  but  really  achieve  proficiency.  During  the  "dead  per- 
iod," there  had  been  going  on  subconscious  adjustments, 
which  used  up  all  the  mental  energy,  and,  being  once  per- 
fected, produced  a  sudden  awakening  to  conscious  mastery. 

On  the  effect  of  non-promotion  upon  the  pupils,  Miss  Ju- 
lia Richman  (quoted  before)  says  this: 

"The  children  who  are  not  promoted  are  known  as  'hold- 
overs.' A  'hold-over'  who  has  missed  a  promotion  because  of 
illness,  change  of  school,  absence  of  the  teacher,  or  any  other 
reason  for  which  the  child  is  not  personally  responsible,  occa- 
sionally makes  a  creditable  record  during  the  second  term 
in  the  grade;  but  usually  the  unpromoted  remnant  will  in- 
clude the  dull  child,  the  careless  or  inattentive  child,  the 
child  who  lacks  the  proper  foundation,  and  the  child  whose 
development  has  been  arrested  by  some  physical  defect  or  re- 
tarded by  faulty  teaching.  That  the  'hold-overs'  form  the 
most  undesirable  material  in  the  newly  organized  class  is 
an  inevitable  result  of  this  method  of  promotion;  the  incal- 
culable injury  suffered  by  the  individual  'hold-over'  has  long 
been  recognized  by  the  thoughtful  observer." 

It  is  largely  from  the  "hold-overs"  that  the  class  of  chil- 
dren which  are  termed  "troublesome"  is  recruited.  In  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  troublesome  child  in  school,  before  the  Kan- 
sas Society  for  Child  Study,  1898,  Supt.  Glotfelder  made 
these  pertinent  remarks: 

"In  every  case  the  child  is  older  than  the  average  in  his 
grade,  and  sixteen  of  them  (those  that  had  come  under  his 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      253 

observation)  are  twelve  years  of  age,  or  above.  Every  child 
mentioned  has  failed  of  promotion  once  or  more.  .  .  . 
Many  of  the  terms  used  in  describing  these  pupils'  faults,  are 
synonymous.  Probably  all  these  troublers  could  be  classi- 
fied into  three  classes,  the  first  and  largest  being  the  uninter- 
ested, those  that  from  wide  and  various  experience  upon  the 
streets,  and  in  conversation  and  contact  with  those  older 
than  themselves,  find  the  school  exercises,  planned  for  young- 
er minds  than  theirs,  stale  and  irkswne;  another  class  would 
include  those  who  have  little  or  no  power  to  concentrate 
their  attention  upon  anything,  and  so  wander  from  one  thing 
to  another,  craving  the  companionship  and  conversation  of 
those  about  them;  the  third  class  includes  those  actually  an- 
tagonistic to  the  school,  its  discipline,  its  exercise,  and  all  its 
requirements." 

As  helps  towards  avoiding  the  opening  up  of  too  wide 
gulfs  between  the  different  types  and  groups  of  children,  in 
matters  of  mere  information,  there  have  already  been 
suggested  a  greater  elasticity  of  the  course  of  study,  short 
divisions  of  the  subject-matter,  and  principally  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  subject-matter  in  what  has  been  called  concen- 
tric circles,  so  that  practically  the  same  work,  on  different 
planes,  will  be  done  all  along,  with  occasions  for  frequent 
repetition  and  re-inforcement,  in  careful  adjustment  to  the 
successive  stages  of  maturity,  widening  the  horizon  of  the 
child  at  each  step,  taking  in  more  and  more  comprehensive 
views,  into  greater  depths  of  distance  and  abstraction. 

It  is  imperative,  however,  that  all  possible  precautions  be 
taken,  by  removing  artificial  standards,  stimuli,  and  incen- 
tives, rewards  and  demerit  marks,  to  establish  the  right  con- 
ception of  promotion  in  the  minds  of  the  pupils,  and  for  that 
matter,  of  their  parents.  The  very  term  "promotion"  is  mis- 
leading as  it  implies  the  idea  of  reward,  while  it  should 
signify  merely  the  idea  of  growth.  Promotion  should  be 
considered  as  a  reward  as  little,  as  non-promotion  should 
mean  a  punishment  or  disgrace. 

It  may  be  contended  that  the  philosophy  of  pace-making 
and  competition  has  pointed  to  the  ambition  to  excel,  not  to 
be  beaten  by  others,  as  a  powerful  incentive  to  increased  ef- 


254      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

fort.  Granting  this,  we  may  admit  that  competition  for 
honors  may  have  a  beneficial  effect  in  the  race  for  knowledge 
of  scholarship,  when  judiciously  employed.  There  will,  even 
under  the  most  perfect  system  of  grading  and  promotion,  be 
enough  margin  for  wholesome  competition.  But  the  primi- 
tive instinct  to  excel  others  so  as  to  get  ahead  of  them,  should 
be  early  converted  into  an  ethical  force.  It  must  be  tem- 
pered with  the  desire  to  help  the  weak,  and  be  transformed 
into  an  ambition  to  excel  one's  self. 

Pupils  of  equal  maturity  should  be  kept  together  even  tho 
they  may  differ  in  matters  of  age,  talent,  information,  skill, 
and  accomplishments.  Rather  than  making  the  gulf  between 
them  increasingly  wider  have  them  appreciate  the  value  and 
beauty  of  co-operation  and  mutual  helpfulness.  The  bond  of 
fellowship  will  be  found  to  be  in  the  community  of  interests 
characteristic  of  their  respective  periods  of  development. 

The  slow  ones  need  the  stimulus  from  the  quicker  ones; 
the  quick  ones  need  the  clog  afforded  by  their  slower  mates. 
The  quick  workers  can  be  taxed  more  by  extra  work  which 
will  widen  their  experience  and  at  the  same  time  add  to  the 
sum  total  of  the  class  work  so  that  even  the  slower  pupils 
may  derive  their  share  of  benefit  from  the  contributions  of 
their  more  rapid  comrades. 

Let  us  not  forget  that  overstimulated  precocity  has  to  pay 
its  penalty  later  on.  Unless  borne  up  by  a  powerful  vitality 
such  as  may  be  found  only  in  rare  instances,  real  precocity  is 
a  curse  which  leads  invariably  to  serious  nervous  tension  and 
depletion. 

The  lesson  we  may  draw  from  all  this  is  that  we  must  indi- 
vidualize. The  basis  of  rational  grading  and  promotion  is  a 
better  knowledge  of  the  individual  needs  of  our  pupils. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

Hygienic  Suggestions 

THIS  chapter  is  not  to  be  devoted  to  the  discussion 
of  diseases  and  abnormal  conditions,  but  rather 
to  that  of  prophylactic  hygienic  measures.  But  at- 
tention should  be  called  to  the  following  points: 
First :  There  ought  to  be  connected  organically 
with  every  school  a  school  physician,  for  the  purpose  not  only 
of  supervising  the  children  so  as  to  control  the  spread  of  con- 
tagious diseases,  but  also  of  giving  general  hygienic  advice 
and  direction,  of  assisting  in  the  discovery  of  defectives  of  all 
kinds,  and  of  being  the  teacher's  assistant  in  every  case  where 
physical  and  mental  abnormality  require  a  comprehensive 
diagnosis. 

Perhaps  the  first  institution  where  regular  medical  inspec- 
tions and  examinations  were  provided  for  was  the  Working- 
man's  School  (later  enlarged  into  the  system  of  Ethical  Cul- 
ture Schools)  of  New  York,  under  the  direction  of  the 
author.  This  dates  back  to  the  year  1891.  Since  that  time  a 
number  of  city  systems  have  appointed  a  regular  staff  of  phy- 
sicians, and  their  functions  are  becoming  more  and  more 
clearly  defined  and  organized.  Everywhere  the  physicians 
have  soon  found  opportunity  for  demonstrating  the  para- 
mount necessity  of  the  work  for  which  they  have  been  de- 
tailed. In  almost  every  instance  of  investigation,  appalling 
conditions  were  discovered  to  exist,  especially  with  regard 
to  the  exposure  of  the  pupils  to  the  spread  of  contagious  dis- 
eases. 

Second:  Every  teacher,  and  especially  every  school  princi- 
pal, should  have  training  in  the  ready  recognition  of  the  or- 


256      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

dinary  symptoms  of  the  common  children's  diseases  and  of 
other  physical  danger  signals. 

Third :  There  must  be  a  strictly  enforced  system  of  regu- 
lating the  attendance  in  the  case  of  infectious  and  contagious 
disease. 

Fourth :  All  abnormal,  defective  and  atypical  children,  in- 
cluding nervous  children,  stammerers  and  others  with  sug- 
gestive habits,  should  be  removed  from  the  ordinary  school 
and  taught  in  special  classes  or  institutions. 

This  article  is  especially  concerned  in  such  hygienic  sugges- 
tions as  will  tend  to  make  the  school  conditions  normal  for 
generally  normal  children. 

First  in  importance  here  is  the  location  and  equipment  of 
the  schoolhouse  as  such.  There  must  be  selected  a  location 
afFording  an  abundance  of  light  and  air,  freedom  from  ob- 
noxious noises  and  odors,  inspiring  and  helpful  views  across 
the  surrounding  country,  etc.,  etc.  In  a  large  city  these  con- 
ditions cannot  always  be  fulfilled,  and  compromises  more  or 
less  fraught  with  danger  must  be  resorted  to.  Then  there 
should  be  fireproof  construction,  convenient  stairways  and 
elevators,  airy  basements,  perfect  sanitary  arrangements.  All 
these  are  largely  architectural  problems  and  need  not  be  elab- 
orated here.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  care  must  be  taken  to  have 
the  schoolhouse  surrounded  by  ample  and  shaded  playgrounds, 
with  trees  and  shrubbery  and  flower  beds,  to  aflFord  outdoor 
recreation  and  exercise.  Gymnastic  apparatus  for  outdoor 
practice,  and  school  gardens  proper,  ought  to  be  provided; 
and  there  ought  also  to  be  convenient  places  for  kindergarten 
and  primary  work  in  the  open  air.  Sand  heaps,  croquet,  ten- 
nis, and  other  equipments  for  plays  and  games  are  valuable 
accessories. 

One  point,  however,  ought  to  be  emphasized.  The  mod- 
em tendency  to  erect  large  central  school  buildings  with 
many  stories  should  be  decidedly  discouraged.  The  assem- 
bling of  great  numbers  of  pupils  in  one  building  increases  the 
danger  of  exposure  in  case  of  contagious  diseases.  But  the 
main  objection  to  tall  buildings  is  the  stairways.  There  has 
been  established  a  very  distinct  relation  between  heart  disease 
and  tall  schoolhouses,  and  the  climbing  of  stairs  has  often  a 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      257 

very  injurious  effect  upon  pubescent  girls.  Smaller  school- 
houses  are  therefore  preferable. 

But  the  room,  or  rooms,  in  which  the  child  spends  so 
many  of  his  waking  hours,  demand  our  particular  attention. 
The  first  warning  must  be  against  overcrowding.  In  some 
schools,  especially  in  large  cities,  this  overcrowding  assumes 
criminal  proportions.  Not  to  speak  of  the  impossibility  of 
individualizing  instruction  and  discipline  in  an  overcrowded 
room,  the  presence  of  too  many  children  in  one  room  vitiates 
the  air,  promotes  disease,  and  produces  generally  unhygienic 
conditions.  Thirty  pupils — under  especially  favorable  cir- 
cumstances, forty — to  a  teacher  should  be  the  extreme.  If 
there  could  be  groups  of  twenty,  it  would  be  better.  Where 
there  are  more  than  twenty-five  in  a  room,  the  teacher  ought 
to  have  an  assistant. 

The  first  requirement  of  a  proper  schoolroom  is  a  sufficient 
amount  of  light  and  air  space.  The  figures  determining  these 
factors  can  be  found  in  any  handbook  on  school  hygiene. 
Ventilation,  e.  g.,  arrangements  for  drawing  off  the  vitiated 
air  and  for  supplying  the  room  with  a  constant  current  of 
breathable,  pure  air,  is  even  more  important  than  an  exact 
allowance  of  air  space.  Proper  ventilation  without  produc- 
ing draft  is  a  matter  of  engineering  science.  It  is  usually, 
and  causally,  connected  with  the  maintenance  of  the  proper 
temperature  in  the  schoolroom.  There  is  as  yet  hardly  a 
system  of  heating  invented  which  gives  an  even  temperature 
all  over  the  room ;  usually  those  children  who  sit  nearest  the 
heating  apparatus  (be  it  stove,  register,  or  radiator)  are  being 
boiled  and  driven  frantic,  while  those  who  sit  at  a  distance 
are  chilled  thru  and  thru  on  cold  days.  School  life 
in  winter  is  full  of  dangers;  overheated  rooms  weaken  the 
power  of  resistance  to  the  effect  of  cold  weather,  and  cold 
rooms  lay  the  foundation  for  colds  and  bronchial  troubles, 
digestive  disturbances  and  the  like.  Yet  we  should  remem- 
ber that  children,  whose  respiratory  functions  are  more  rap- 
idly operative  than  ours,  and  who  are  moving  about  more 
energetically  than  we  do,  need  less  heat  than  adults.  The 
temperature  to  be  maintained  has  been  fixed  by  the  Buffalo 
Board  of  School  Examiners  in  its  seventh  annual  report  as 


258      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

follows :  In  classrooms,  with  thermometer  in  center  of  room, 
68  degrees  F. ;  with  thermometer  on  unexposed  wall,  70  de- 
grees F.  In  halls,  62  degrees  F.  Observe  and  rely  upon 
thermometers — do  not  rely  upon  personal  feelings. 

It  should  be  observed  that  care  must  be  taken  not  to  have 
the  air  in  classrooms  too  dry;  there  must  be  the  proper  de- 
gree of  humidity.  Sometimes  in  bad  weather  there  is  too 
much  of  it,  not  only  because  of  the  general  dampness  of  the 
atmosphere,  but  because  the  wet  clothes  of  the  children  add 
a  large  share  by  evaporation  in  the  warm  room.  Children 
should  be  made  to  take  off  wet  shoes  and  stockings  on  com- 
ing to  school;  they  should  be  instructed  to  bring  extra  gar- 
ments and  shoes  to  school  on  wet  days,  so  that  they  may 
change  their  wet  raiment  for  dry.  It  is  needless  to  repeat 
here  that  it  is  perniciously  dangerous  to  children,  or  to 
grown  people,  to  sit  for  hours  in  damp  garments.  Provision 
should  be  made  to  have  a  place  in  school  where  damp  shoes, 
stockings,  and  other  clothes  can  be  dried.  All  wardrobes 
and  cloak  rooms  should  be  ventilated  with  particular  care. 
But  we  may  even  go  a  step  farther. 

School  washrooms  with  ample  capacity  to  accommodate 
all  the  children  with  satisfactory  promptness,  and  school  baths 
with  shower  baths,  tubs,  and  swimming  tanks,  will  in  time 
be  common  institutions  in  all  schools.  They  have  been 
widely  introduced  in  many  places,  notably  in  France  and 
Germany.  They  afford  not  only  opportunities  for  cleansing, 
but  also  for  healthful  stimulation  and  exercise.  A  special 
article  might  be  written  on  cleanliness  of  hands  and  fingers, 
particularly  of  the  finger-nails;  they  are  hotbeds  of  bacteria. 
But  cleansing  the  bodies,  where  that  is  needed,  does  not 
suffice.  The  clothes  of  many  children  are  sources  of  danger 
as  well,  apart  from  the  disgusting  odor  that  often  emanates 
from  them.  Many  change  their  underclothing  but  seldom, 
and  their  upper  garments  are  worn,  uncleaned  and  unaired, 
for  long  periods  at  a  time,  gathering  dust  and  microbes  and 
issuing  the  stuffy  smell  characteristic  of  neglected  homes.  As 
long  as  we  cannot  change  these  homes,  it  is  a  simple  matter 
of  self-protection  to  provide  means  in  school  for  the  proper 
cleansing  of   the  children's  garments,   eventually   even   for 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       259 

furnishing  them  with  temporary  substitutes.  But  possibly 
the  cleaning  process  of  both  persons  and  garments  could  go 
on  simultaneously. 

There  is  further  the  adequate  cleaning  and  disinfecting  of 
the  schoolrooms  themselves,  as  well  as  of  the  utensils  and  ma- 
terials employed  in  the  daily  work  of  the  school.  One  of  the 
first  counsels  in  this  regard  would  be:  Keep  the  dust  out  as 
far  as  possible, — not  only  by  preventing  the  children  (by 
proper  arrangement  for  cleaning,  brushing,  and  scraping) 
from  carrying  dirt  and  dust  into  the  building  on  their  shoes 
and  in  their  clothing,  but  also  by  avoiding  within  the  four 
walls  of  the  building  and  the  room  all  those  things  and 
practices  which  would  cause,  stir  up,  and  re-distribute  dust. 
Mark:  every  cubic  centimeter  of  air  in  an  ordinary  room 
within  the  confines  of  a  city  contains  400,000  particles  of 
dust.  How  many  there  may  be  in  an  ordinary  schoolroom 
I  do  not  know.  Not  only  is  there  an  ever-present  danger 
from  the  admixture  of  micro-organisms,  but  these  enormous 
clouds  of  dust  clog  our  respiratory  organs  and  stop  up  the 
pores  of  the  skin.  Use,  then,  as  dustless  a  crayon  as  you  can 
purchase  on  the  market,  and  wash  your  blackboards  with  a 
wet  sponge  or  rag  instead  of  using  those  vicious  erasers. 
Throw  your  sponge  away  after  use,  for  few  things  are 
more  effective  as  germ  breeders  than  sponges  and  brooms. 
Wash  your  rags  once  a  day,  and  do  it  well.  Moist  cloth, 
dipped  in  a  solution  of  corrosive  sublimate  (bi-chlorate  of 
mercury,  i  :300o)  for  disinfection,  should  be  used  daily  for 
the  cleansing  of  seats  and  desks,  etc.  Employ  moist  sawdust 
for  sweeping  the  floors.  Bum  up  all  dusters  and  other  hell- 
ish devices  for  raising  and  distributing  dust  under  the  pre- 
tense of  cleaning.  The  windows  should  be  washed  once 
a  week  to  secure  the  full  benefit  of  the  light  supply  for  which 
they  are  intended ;  and  the  walls  need  frequent  cleansing  and 
ought  to  be  recalsomined  annually,  as  this  process  also  secures 
excellent  disinfection.  AH  schoolroom  decoration  should 
therefore  be  simple  and  inexpensive,  so  that  it  can  be  re- 
moved and  renovated  without  undue  expenditure  and  cha- 
grin. 

Attention  must  further  be  called  to  the  dangers  lurking 


26o      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

in  apparently  innocent  utensils  and  materials.  Slates,  apart 
from  their  bad  effect  on  vision  and  handwriting,  harbor 
countless  colonies  of  microbes  and  bacilli.  Soap  and  towels, 
when  used  in  common  by  children;  likewise  commcMi  drink- 
ing cups;  pencils  which  are  kept  in  common  receptacles  and 
exchanged;  even  the  bits  of  chalk  which  wander  from  hand 
to  hand,  are  carriers  of  infection.  The  same  may  be  asserted 
of  the  books  that  are  not  individual  property.  Clay,  espec- 
ially when  kept  moist  and  used  over  and  over  again  too 
long,  is  particularly  dangerous.  Children  should  wash  their 
hands  carefully  (with  soap  and  some  disinfectant)  before 
and  after  using  clay;  in  fact,  by  insisting  upon  scrupulous 
cleanliness  of  hands  and  face,  much  of  the  danger  here  re- 
ferred to  may  be  obviated.  Still  better  would  it  be  if  a  suit- 
able system  of  disinfection  at  regular  intervals  would  be  in- 
augurated to  supplement  the  measures  for  daily  cleansing.  In 
times  of  epidemics  of  any  kind,  even  the  seemingly  most 
trivial,  such  disinfection  should  be  undertaken  daily  after 
school  hours.  Formaldehyde  (formic  Aldehyde,  CH2O),  a 
gaseous  body  formed  from  methyl  alcohol  by  oxidation,  is  a 
very  effective  and  easily  applied  disinfectant  which  will 
even  cleanse  the  utensils  contained  in  the  schoolroom  in  a 
satisfactory  manner.  It  requires  no  special  mention  that  all 
sanitary  appliances,  toilets,  washbasins,  and  the  like,  must  be 
kept  absolutely  clean  and  disinfected. 

One  of  the  most  effective  destroyers  of  disease  germs  is 
sunlight.  Abundance  of  light — pure,  diffuse  light — in  all 
parts  of  the  room  is  a  pre-eminent  requirement  of  schoolroom 
hygiene.  As  there  is  such  an  enormous  difference  between 
sunlight  and  artificial  light,  even  if  each  desk  were  provided 
with  a  special  lamp,  care  should  be  taken  to  preserve  the  eye- 
sight of  growing  boys  and  girls  by  having  them  work  as  much 
as  feasible  in  daylight,  and  to  warn  them  against  the  peril 
of  working  and  reading  under  insufficient  illumination.  Let 
the  light  supply,  be  it  repeated,  always  be  plentiful,  and 
available  even  in  the  farthest  corner  of  the  room.  "The 
pupils  sitting  farthest  from  the  windows  naturally  adopt  the 
habit  of  holding  the  book  nearer  to  their  eyes  when  the  light 
is  dim,  and  in  this  way  become  nearsighted,  and,  thru  sym- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      261 

pathy  with  the  strain  upon  the  eyes  in  study,  the  stomach  be- 
comes disordered.  Nervous  dyspepsia  and  headaches  abroad 
in  the  community  owe  their  origin  to  some  extent  to  this 
defect  in  school  building.  To  bring  about  a  proper  distribu- 
tion of  light,  avoiding  unpleasant  and  blinding  reflection 
and  glare,  attention  must  be  paid  to  the  use  of  proper  window 
shades,  the  tinting  and  finishing  of  walls  and  ceiling,  the  mat- 
gltss  and  shades,  the  tinting  and  finishing  of  walls  and  ceil- 
ing, the  matter  of  blackboards  (which  would  be  more  profit- 
ably green  boards),  etc.  The  infalling  natural  light  is,  of 
course,  greatly  modified  by  the  color  of  the  room.  Too  much 
blackboard  of  the  ordinary  sort  causes  a  great  loss  of  light  by 
absorption.  Although  there  is  some  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
the  best  colors  for  wall  decoration,  it  seems  that  the  red  end 
of  the  spectrum  is  less  desirable  for  rooms  in  which  fine  work 
is  demanded,  as  it  absorbs  too  much  of  the  infalling  light. 
The  lighter  and  more  delicate  shades  of  yellow  and  gray  are 
recommended ;  a  light  buff  tint  of  dull  surface  is  also  good. 
The  wood  work  should  receive  a  coat  of  light  paint  harmoni- 
ous with  the  rest. 

The  effect  of  a  school  room  should  be  pleasing,  bright,  in- 
vigorating, inspiring.  Tasteful  combinations  of  color  and 
decorative  motives  of  a  simple,  restful  kind;  flowers  on  the 
window  sills;  greens  and  pictures  on  the  walls  and  doors; 
here  and  there  a  bit  of  suggestive  statuary ;  specimens  and  col- 
lections of  interest  and  value;  and  all-pervading,  a  home-like 
atmosphere, — these  will  make  the  room  a  positive  power  for 
good  to  pupils,  and  to  the  teacher  as  well.  For  what  con- 
tributes to  the  healthy  and  inspiring  influences  of  the  place 
where  we  spend  our  working  hours  affects  not  only  our  physi- 
cal, but  also  our  mental  and  moral  status. 

Speaking  of  the  requirements  for  keeping  the  visual  ca- 
pacity of  our  children,  as  well  as  their  nervous  energy  in  gen- 
eral, intact,  reference  may  be  made  to  the  hygiene  of  reading 
and  writing,  and  fine  work  in  general.  "The  implements  we 
employ  in  our  'daily  tasks,'  "  says  O'Shea,  "are  responsible 
for  much  useless  drain  upon  the  nervous  system, — such  appar- 
ently simple  and  harmless  things  as  writing  pens,  pencils, 
and  the  like.     Co-ordination  of  the  peripheral  muscles  in- 


262      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

volves  a  relatively  larger  expenditure  of  energy  than  coarser, 
less  delicately  adjusted  movements.  Thus,  fine  needle  work 
is  more  fatiguing  to  most  women  than  washing  dishes,  and 
'getting  pigs  out  of  clover'  is  a  much  greater  strain  on  any 
man  than  playing  golf  or  croquet."  Let  us  be  reminded  of 
the  proper  size  and  body  of  type,  length  of  line,  size  of  page, 
etc.  Glazed  paper  to  read  from  is  much  more  injurious  than 
dull  paper,  and  the  white  sheet  should  be  replaced  by  the 
tinted  page,  preferably  of  a  dull,  yellowish-gray  color. 

A  source  of  much  functional  disturbance  in  school  is  the 
improper  posture  of  children  in  standing,  marching,  sitting, 
largely  caused  by  too  much  confinement  to  the  unhygienic 
and  non-adjustable  seats  and  desks  of  the  ordinary  school. 
Nosebleed  is  a  not  infrequent  result  of  leaning  forward  in  the 
seat  to  bend  over  a  book.  Many  investigators  have  been 
struck  by  the  number  of  children  that  presented  some  irregu- 
larity of  growth,  being  afflicted  with  a  marked  lowering  of 
the  right  or  left  shoulder,  scoliosis,  lordosis,  and  round  shoul- 
ders, while  the  habitual  standing  position  of  about  one-third 
of  all  approached  more  or  less  closely  to  what  Bernard  Roth 
has  aptly  named  the  "gorilla  type," — abdomen  protruded, 
chest  flat,  and  head  shoved  forward.  There  is  also  a  form 
of  scoliosis  produced  by  fatigue.  This  latter  point  is  signifi- 
cant ;  for  improper  seating — apart  from  its  direct  effect  upon 
the  growth  of  the  bodily  structure — causes  an  enormous  men- 
tal tension  of  which  few  are  fully  aware.  "People  who  do 
not  habitually  stand  or  sit  in  such  a  manner  that  the  body 
is  poised,  as  it  were,  and  at  rest,  will  certainly  suffer  for  their 
error  in  lessening  efficiency  in  both  physical  and  mental  work. 
The  attention  of  the  student  is  called  to  the  importance  of  the 
matter  of  right  seating  in  the  hope  that  he  will  try  to  arrange 
his  chair  and  desk  so  as  to  save  nervous  wear  and  tear  to  the 
fullest  possible  extent.  The  matter  of  seating  is  of  conse- 
quence not  simply  from  the  point  of  view  of  saving  energy, 
but  it  has  an  important  influence  also  upon  the  generation  of 
force.  A  student  leaning  over  his  desk,  with  his  lungs  con- 
stricted and  the  arteries  leading  to  the  head  compressed,  is  in 
a  good  way  to  foster  mind  wandering  and  napping.  The 
organism  then  becomes  clogged,  as  it  were;  it  does  not  re- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       263 

ceive  its  due  of  oxygen,  as  a  result  of  which  the  brain  must 
certainly  be  seriously  handicapped."* 

Nervous  tension,  however,  is  produced  in  many  other  ways. 
There  is  need  of  a  proper  recognition  of  the  hygiene  of  in- 
struction. A  rational,  elastic  course  of  study  following  the 
natural  lines  of  growth  is  the  first  requisite  for  wholesome 
work.  To  meet  individual  differences,  there  should  be  a  cer- 
tain elasticity  of  requirements  and  the  possibility  of  instan- 
taneous adjustment  whenever  a  child,  or  group  of  children, 
evinces  signs  of  fatigue  or  strain.  The  question  of  recesses 
deserves  attention.  Some  teachers  have  injudiciously  sug- 
gested a  one-session  plan  under  high  pressure,  with  no  recesses, 
or  with  very  brief  respites  only,  so  as  to  get  home  early  in  the 
afternoon.  Such  a  plan  is  utterly  objectionable.  Concentrated 
attention  and  intense  effort  during  a  very  few  brief  periods 
is  all  a  child,  even  of  adolescent  age,  can  afford;  and  breaks 
— that  is,  shorter  and  longer  recesses — between  these  periods 
of  work  are  indispensable.  It  his  been  convincingly  demon- 
strated that  a  long  noon  recess,  with  ample  time  for  lunch 
and  rest  and  outdoor  exercise,  improves  the  quality  of  the 
work  all  around. 

And  then,  we  ought  not  to  be  stingy  in  the  matter  of  holi- 
days and  vacations.  Far  from  losing  time,  we  gain  time  by 
timely  intermissions.  While  our  long  summer  vacation  is 
probably  an  evil,  there  should  be  shorter  and  longer  vacations 
spread  over  the  year  and  come  at  proper  stages, — at  the  begin- 
ning of  spring,  at  midsummer,  at  harvest  time,  and  at  the 
winter  solstice.  Instead  of  suspending  operations  altogether 
in  summer,  a  change  of  occupations,  a  transplanting  of  the 
school  into  the  country  wherever  this  is  feasible,  concentration 
on  outdoor  work,  horticulture,  agriculture,  nature  study  and 
geography,  manual  occupations,  art  sketching,  physical  exer- 
cise, and  the  like,  will  be  found  advisable.  The  vacation 
schools  conducted  for  a  number  of  years  in  New  York, 
Chicago,  and  other  places  have  demonstrated  the  wisdmn  of 
such  a  course  beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt. 


♦Prof.  O'Shea,  "The  Conservation  of  Mental  Energy,"  Journal 
of  Pedagogy. 


264      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

Our  ordinary  methods  of  school  instruction  imply  a  great 
degree  of  overstimulation,  while  the  nagging  methods  of 
discipline  produce  a  large  amount  of  worry  and  tension  in 
the  minds  of  our  pupils.  As  sunshine  is  the  most  powerful 
agent  in  destroying  the  germs  of  bodily  disease,  cheerfulness 
is  the  best  guarantee  for  a  normal  condition  of  the  mental 
and  moral  organism. 

But  having  provided  healthy  conditions  and  stimuli  as  far 
as  our  own  foresight  will  avail,  there  must  be  conditions  in 
the  children  enabling  them  to  respond  in  a  normal  manner. 
As  to  these,  referring,  for  example,  to  the  proper  amount  of 
sleep  and  nourishment,  to  hygienic  clothing,  proper  care  of 
the  body,  and  the  like, — the  teacher  may  be  supposed  to  have 
little  influence  and  responsibility.  And  yet,  as  to  his  re- 
sponsibilities, since  teachers  are  the  only  ones  professionally 
trained  for  educational  functions,  we  may  justly  expect  them 
to  do  their  share  toward  bringing  about  healthier  conditions, 
even  of  home  life,  than  are  generally  found.  Thru  visits  to 
the  homes,  thru  parents'  meetings,  mothers'  clubs,  the  co-op- 
eration of  the  press,  much  can  be  accomplished.  Yet  there 
are  direct  measures  which  will  reflect  themselves  in  the 
homes.  In  the  first  part  of  this  chapter  some  of  these  have 
been  enumerated. 

As  to  securing  for  the  children  the  necessary  amount 
of  rest,  let  us  be  cautious  and  reasonable  in  the  mat- 
ter  of   home   worL*    In   order   to   bring   about    a   more 

♦While  reading  the  proofs  of  the  first  publication  of  this 
chapter,  the  writer  had  opportunity  of  watching  some  school 
girls,  about  twelve  years  old,  trudging  home  from  a  New  York 
Public  School,  carrying  packs  of  books  so  large  and  heavy 
that  he  asked  the  children  to  allow  him  to  weigh  them.  In 
one  of  these  packs  there  were  about  a  dozen  printed  books,  as 
many  copy  books,  and  a  large  geography.  This  pack  weighed 
iij^  pounds!  It  was  admitted  that  the  children,  pupils  of  a 
Fourth  Grammar  Grade,  did  not  always  carry  quite  as  many 
books;  but  when  the  regular  pile  was  weighed  it  was  found  to 
represent  still  a  load  of  over  seven  pounds.  The  books  were 
needed  on  account  of  the  home  work  required.  Do  teachers 
and  principals  who  oblige  growing  children  to  carry  such  heavy 
and  bulky  packages  home  and  back  to  school,  realize  for  how 
many  cases  of  strain,  scoliosis,  and  other  ailments  they  make 
themselves  responsible? 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      265 

rational  style  of  dress  for  children  of  both  sexes,  where  there 
is  less  of  show  and  more  of  hygiene,  let  us  insist  upon  proper 
habiliment  in  the  gymnasium  and  on  the  open  air  playground. 
Several  European  governments  like  the  Russian  have  pro- 
claimed that  school  girls  are  henceforth  forbidden,  under 
penalty,  to  wear  corsets.  Such  an  opportunity  is  not  ours, 
but  we  can  do  much  toward  fighting  this  pernicious  "gar- 
ment" by  introducing  a  rational  gymnasium  gown  and  by 
encouraging  healthy  sports  generally.  The  school  physicians, 
with  their  measurements  and  examinations,  will  effectively 
come  to  our  aid  in  this  matter. 

An  English  surgeon  calls  attention  to  the  great  discomfort, 
or  actual  injury,  caused  by  ill-fitting  garments  worn  by  a 
growing  child.  Clothing  for  young  children  is  usually  made 
in  large  quantities  at  a  time.  All  the  garments  of  the  lot 
are  cut  after  a  fixed  pattern,  the  different  parts  being  pieced 
together  rapidly  and  stitched  by  machine,  all  at  the  least  pos- 
sible cost.  The  clothes  are  usually  graded  according  to  age 
instead  of  by  size,  and  so  a  child  who  is  slightly  larger  or 
smaller  than  the  average  for  his  years  gets  a  misfit.  But  even 
those  whose  size  and  age  agree  are  often  no  better  off.  The 
parent  may  notice  that  the  child  stoops  and  cannot  be  made  to 
carry  himself  or  herself  erect.  Some  one,  perhaps  the  family 
physician,  may  suggest  that  the  frock  is  not  loose  enough,  but 
the  mother  demonstrates  to  her  own  satisfaction  that  it  is,  by 
gathering  up  folds  of  the  garment  in  her  hands  or  by  running 
her  hand  under  it.  But  if  the  frock  is  removed  and  measured 
front  and  back,  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  measurements 
over  the  chest  and  back  are  the  same;  in  other  words,  the 
armholes  are  directly  in  the  center.  If  the  child's  arms  were 
also  directly  in  the  center,  the  shirt  or  blouse  would  be  an 
excellent  fit;  but  the  child's  anatomy  is  not  so  ordered,  na- 
ture having  intended  that  its  chest  should  bulge  out  to  make 
room  for  the  lungs,  while  the  back  should  be  flat  and  more 
or  less  rigid. 

A  very  important  factor  for  normal  mental  and  moral 
functioning  on  the  part  of  the  children,  not  to  speak  of  phy- 
sical growth,  is  proper  nourishment.  Here  much  neglect  has 
been  recorded.     Thousands  of    children,    even    from    good 


266      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

homes,  come  to  school  without  sufficient  breakfast,  and  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  have  to  be  content  with  a  cold  lunch  at 
noon.  Louise  E.  Hogan  in  her  article  on  "Diet  for  School 
Children,"  makes  these  suggestions:  "The  custom  of  send- 
ing children  to  school  upon  a  light  breakfast,  or  none  at  all, 
with  a  cold  lunch  for  the  noon  meal,  is  reprehensible  to  the 
last  degree.  Or,  if  a  hot  dinner  is  provided,  the  habit  of 
rushing  home  at  noon  in  a  limited  time  to  consume  eagerly 
and  rapidly  the  food  which  should  be  eaten  leisurely  and  en- 
joyed, has  a  strong  influence  upon  the  integrity  of  the  child's 
health,  and  it  should  not  be  allowed  under  any  circumstances. 
Constant  nibbling  between  meals  should  be  forbidden  by 
both  parents  and  teachers.  A  half  hour's  play  should  be 
given  between  the  eating  of  a  meal  and  the  beginning  of 
study.  Children  should  not  be  allowed  to  gulp  down  their 
meals  in  order  to  have  more  time  to  play.  An  enforced 
presence  at  table  or  lunch  basket  for  the  time  necessary  for 
slow  consumption  of  food  will  soon  regulate  this  matter." 

The  latter  point  is  important;  insufficient  chewing  and 
salivation  is  responsible  for  much  dyspepsia.  As  many  par- 
ents are  often  too  ignorant  or  too  poor  to  make  proper  provi- 
sion, and  as  even  well  prepared  lunches  are  likely  to  become 
stale  before  they  are  eaten,  the  furnishing  of  meals  (break- 
fasts and  luncheons)  has  become  a  well  established  institution 
in  many  schools.  The  food  consists  of  sandwiches,  soup, 
warm  hash  or  stew,  assorted  cakes,  and  hot  tea  and  coflFee. 
The  pupils  cannot  spend  more  than  ten  cents  a  meal,  and 
they  can  get  a  good  one  for  five.  There  was  a  cooking  de- 
partment in  a  certain  high  school,  and  the  teacher  in  charge 
co-{^erated  with  the  Superintendent  with  the  establishment 
of  hot  luncheons  as  a  result.  As  early  as  1892  in  France, 
school  children  took  their  midday  meal  at  a  public  table  pro- 
vided by  the  state.  They  pay  for  what  they  eat  with  counters 
bought  by  their  parents  at  so  much  a  dozen.  Parents  who 
cannot  pay  are  provided  with  counters  free,  which  their  chil- 
dren pass  in  without  their  schoolmates  knowing  that  they  are 
eating  the  bread  of  charity.  Thus  every  child  is  sure  of  one 
good  meal  a  day.  "There  is  wonderful  sympathy,"  says  the 
School  Journal,  "existing  between  their  midday  lunch  and 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       267 

the  afternoon  brightness  of  the  children."  That  proper  at- 
tention should  be  given  to  the  matter  of  regular  and  com- 
plete digestion,  may  be  remarked  in  passing. 

What  has  been  said  so  far  refers,  it  seems,  exclusively  to 
the  welfare  of  the  pupils  of  the  school,  and  appears  to  imply 
that  the  teacher  is  beyond  the  reach  of  unwholesome  influ- 
ences, that  he  has  an  iron  constitution  both  mentally  and 
physically,  so  as  to  be  altogether  unconcerned  in  provisions  of 
a  sanitary  nature,  or  in  the  hygiene  of  instruction.  And  yet, 
we  know  well  enough  that  this  is  not  the  case;  that  if  the 
pupils  suffer  from  unhygienic  conditions,  the  teachers  are 
sufferers  also.  Especially  as  he  is  mostly  a  she,  the  severe 
physical  and  mental  tension  to  which  the  teacher  is  exposed 
creates  havoc  in  the  delicate  organism  which  often  strives  in 
vain  to  adjust  itself  to  abnormal  demands  and  circumstances. 
There  is  a  long  record  of  breakdowns  and  nervous  collapses, 
temporary  disablements  and  lasting  injuries.  Yea,  even 
tho  it  may  not  always  come  to  such  serious  consequences, 
the  unhappiness,  worry,  and  morbid  moods  in  the  teacher 
which  reflect  themselves  so  unfortunately  and  mischievously 
in  the  spirit,  temper,  and  work  of  the  children  and  which 
form,  indeed,  the  worst  unhygienic  condition  for  their  activi- 
ty, are  sad  enough  to  observe  and  easy  enough  to  explain 
by  prevailing  unwholesome  influences.  There  is  unnecessary 
overwork,  an  overburdening  with  harassing  details,  and  over- 
abundance of  wearisome  rules  and  regulations,  too  much 
cramming  for  examinations,  and  monotonous,  pedantic  work 
with  the  children ;  often  lack  of  inspiration  from  the  head  of 
the  school,  or  of  the  school  system,  or  from  the  schoolboard, 
or  from  the  community  at  large;  and  last  but  not  least, 
there  is  the  irritating  uncertainty  with  regard  to  the  tenure 
of  the  position,  in  spite  of  faithful  and  effective  work,  and 
the  ever  pressing  financial  anxiety  caused  by  insufficient  sal- 
aries which,  in  some  states,  are  on  a  par  with  the  cost  of 
maintaining  paupers. 

Better  sanitation  of  schools,  better  hygienic  conditions  gen- 
erally, more  rational  and  elastic  courses  of  study,  and  all 
those  things  which  make  the  school  life  of  our  pupils  more 
normal,  more  healthy,  more  certain  of  good  results,  and  above 


268      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

all  happier,  will  also  favorably  react  upon  the  teacher.  Even 
he  is,  as  it  were,  a  human  being.  And  let  us  remember  that 
upon  him  and  his  normal  condition  depends  the  greater  part 
of  the  influences  that  shape  the  school  life  of  our  children. 
He  is,  even  in  matters  of  the  hygienic  administration  of  a 
schoolroom,  the  executive  officer  whose  ability,  intelligence, 
faithfulness,  consideration,  and  ready  tact  are  determinative. 
The  very  best  hygienic  equipment  and  the  most  psychological 
course  of  study  will  remain  ineffective  without  an  effective 
management  and  careful  application  by  the  teacher.  And 
from  him  must  radiate  those  inspiring  influences  which  set 
the  mental  and  moral  organism  of  the  child  into  normal 
activity  to  secure  normal  progress  and  higher  differentiation. 
In  applying  our  best  hygienic  knowledge  to  the  needs  of  the 
teacher  as  well  as  of  the  pupils,  let  us  remember  the  incontro- 
vertible fact  that,  after  all,  the  teacher  is  the  school. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

Problems  of  Discipline 

THE  discussion  of  discipline  requires  a  clear  con- 
ception of  its  meaning  and  object.  Discipline  is 
not  only  that  condition  which  enables  a  pupil,  or 
a  class,  to  put  their  best  efforts  to  their  work,  but 
also  that  force  which  tends  to  develop  in  each  in- 
dividual an  amount  of  self-control  and  self -direction  sufficient 
for  right  living  generally.  The  school  contributes  its  share 
to  the  building  up  of  this  sort  of  discipline,  altho,  of  course, 
this  share  varies  in  amplitude  in  accordance  with  the  influ- 
ence a  school  succeeds  in  exerting,  and  is,  at  best,  but  a  part 
and  fraction  of  the  disciplinary  influences  potent  in  the  life  of 
a  child.  It  is  evident  that  many  factors  enter  into  the  sum 
total  of  these  influences,  factors  upon  which  a  healthy  dis- 
ciplinary condition  depends,  and  it  requires  some  insight  into 
these  factors  and  influences  to  appreciate  the  full  meaning  of 
disciplinary  efFort  on  the  part  of  the  educator. 

The  prevailing  notion  of  discipline  is  based  on  gross  mis- 
conceptions of  its  character  and  purpose.  It  is  superficial  and 
perfunctory.  It  is  mechanical  and  dead.  It  is  a  sham  and  a 
delusion.  It  means  an  abuse  of  the  significant  terms  order 
and  attention.  "What  is  the  aim  of  the  teacher?"  once  asked 
Col.  Parker,  the  great  pioneer  for  better  methods  in  our 
schools.  "Some  think  of  nothing  but  keeping  the  children 
still ;  they  cry  out  for  order ;  their  aim  is  stillness.  It  is  often 
obtained  by  the  expenditure  of  cant,  hypocrisy  and  wicked- 
ness. The  attempt  is  to  look  like  an  angel  in  the  face  while 
the  devil  is  in  the  heart." 

The  idea  of  discipline  has  been  so  long  connected,  in  the 

269 


270      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

minds  of  many,  with  the  notion  of  punishment  that  the  term 
"to  discipline"  has  come  to  mean  almost  the  identical  thing 
as  "to  punish".  Children  playing  "school"  will  be  found  to 
take  greatest  delight  in  administering  punishment ;  this  seems, 
in  their  minds,  to  be  the  dominant  element  of  the  teacher's 
functions.  To  tell  the  truth,  very  little  faith  is  to  be  placed 
in  punishment  under  otherwise  normal  circumstances, — in 
its  moral  effect, — or  even  in  our  right  to  punish,  as  long  as 
punishment  retains  the  old  significance  of  "retaliation",  or 
"revenge",  "penalty",  "chastisement."  It  is  true  we  have,  in 
these  modern  times,  learnt  to  appreciate  that,  after  all,  the 
only  function  we  have  as  educators  is  that  of  placing  the  child 
into  the  position  to  work  out  his  own  salvation.  We  are 
neither  his  masters  nor  his  beadles.  Sometimes,  perhaps,  in 
mediating  to  him  experience  so  as  to  train  him  in  the  faculty 
of  adjusting  himself  to  his  surroundings,  or  to  prepare  him 
for  future  emergencies,  we  may  have  to  employ  means  which 
symbolize,  or  interpret,  to  him  the  forces  and  laws  of  nature 
which  he  not  yet  knows.  In  this  process,  we  may  be  obliged, 
occasionally,  to  use  forcible  measures,  even  "corporal  punish- 
ment", if  you  please,  and  were  it  only  to  make  it  plain  that  he 
must  submit  to  our  guidance  as  we  have  to  submit  to  the 
divine  order  of  nature.  If  the  child  himself  represents  a 
lower  type  of  humanity,  with  brutal  instincts  and  irrational 
emotionality,  we  may  have  to  take  recourse  to  methods  which 
are  adapted  to  his  special  case  while  they  would  be  utterly 
out  of  place  with  the  majority  of  children.  In  fact,  the 
teacher  in  the  ordinary  school  will  have  little  occasion  for 
desperate  methods;  children  who  would  seem  to  require  them 
are  in  need  of  special  diagnosis  and  require  expert  treatment. 
Then,  again,  methods  of  "discipline"  adapted  to  young  chil- 
dren who  represent  the  primitive  stage  of  development  are  ill- 
chosen  for  those  who  have  outgrown  that  stage.  Each  devel- 
opmental level  has  its  own  disciplinary  laws. 

But  the  proper  administration  of  disciplinary  measures 
must  rid  itself  of  the  character  of  punishment  pure  and  sim- 
ple. "Evil  must  be  resisted,  but  we  must  not  retaliate",  said 
Dr.  Paul  Carus.  We  must  assume  the  same  attitude  towards 
the  youthful  offender  in  the  schoolroom  which  enlightened 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       271 

criminology  takes  towards  abnormal  or  atypical  members  of 
socictj'.  The  new  view  of  the  function  of  criminal  courts  has 
not  been  realized  in  practice  to  any  extent,  and  there  is  still 
much  miscarriage  of  justice.  But  the  reform  must  come 
along  the  line  of  what  has  been  expressed  in  the  words  of  Dr. 
Edward  F.  Brush,  who  once  said:  "When  our  courts  of  jus- 
tice recognize  that  their  functions  are  not  to  avenge,  but  to 
cure  society  of  its  diseased  members,  and  that  the  treatment 
must  be  scientific,  effectual,  and  humane,  then  the  sentiments 
exhibited  toward  the  criminal  will  be  the  same  that  we  dis- 
play toward  the  person  afflicted  with  small-pox,  typhoid  fever, 
and  the  like.  As  organized  society  we  have  the  right  to 
protect  ourselves  both  against  the  unfortunate  criminal  and 
the  unfortunate  person  afflicted  with  a  contagious  disease,  but 
this  right  should  not  be  deemed  the  right  to  punish.  All  men 
of  scientific  turn  of  mind  who  have  made  a  study  of  criminal 
anthropology  are  fast  approaching  the  physician's  position 
regarding  such  questions". 

In  the  matter  of  public  administration  of  justice  one  nota- 
ble step  forward  has  been  taken  which  is  of  particular  value 
to  the  educator:  the  establishment  of  special  courts  for  juven- 
ile offenders,  coupled  with  the  system  of  probation. 

If  this  is  the  right  attitude  toward  criminals,  it  should  be 
easy  for  us,  as  educators,  to  assume  the  same  position  toward 
the  more  or  less  innocent  transgressions  which  confront  us  in 
the  schoolroom.  A  teacher  ought  never  to  get  excited,  as 
little  as  a  physician  would  when  called  upon  to  handle  a  case 
of  persistent  chills  and  fever;  children  should  never  succeed 
in  angering  us,  or  arousing  in  us  a  desire  for  retaliation.  A 
child's  standard  of  morality  has  little  relation  to  the  adult 
standard.  What  to  the  adult  would  be  immoral,  has  perhaps 
no  significance  to  a  child.  The  child  is  mostly  influenced  by 
unconscious  imitation  and  suggestion,  and  by  the  formation 
of  habits  of  response  for  which  his  environment  is  largely  re- 
sponsible. Children  act  by  impulse,  not  purposefully.  We 
cannot  suppress  impulses  altogether;  we  may  divert  them.  If 
the  gratification  of  an  impulse  should  invariably  be  accom- 
panied with  unpleasant  feelings,  it  will  expend  itself  in  an- 
other direction.    This  is  the  logic  of  "punishment". 


272       THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

A  scientific  and  charitable  view  of  children's  actions  was 
not  entertained  by  our  predecessors  in  schoolmastery.  They 
believed  in  the  native  depravity  of  their  pupils,  and  their 
whole  career  was  one  continuous  warfare  with  the  devils 
possessing  them.  This  prospect  was  even  one  of  the  reasons 
why  women  were  for  a  long  while  thought  incapable  of 
teaching  school ;  they  lacked  the  physical  strength  which  was 
supposed  to  be  necessary  for  a  successful  fight  with  the  per- 
verse instincts  of  the  traditional  pupil.  An  Eton  headmaster 
flogged  eighty  boys  in  one  night.  There  is  the  instructive 
record  of  the  old  Suabian  schoolmaster  who,  during  the  fifty- 
one  years  and  seven  months  of  his  official  life  inflicted  91 1,527 
blows  with  a  rod,  124,010  blows  with  a  cane,  20,989  taps 
with  a  ruler,  136,715  blows  with  the  hand,  10,235  blows 
over  the  mouth,  7905  boxes  on  the  ear,  and  1,118,800  raps 
on  the  head.  Seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven  times  he  made 
boys  kneel  on  peas,  and  613  times  on  a  three-cornered  piece 
of  wood,  made  3001  pupils  wear  the  dunce  cap,  and  1707  to 
hold  up  the  rod. 

This  schoolmaster  "Hauerle"  (literally:  "The  Little  Beat- 
ing Master")  may  be  a  myth;  but  schoolmasters  of  this  sort 
have  surely  been  typical  for  centuries. 

The  old  idea  of  punishment  as  a  method  of  discipline,  i. 
e.  discipline  thru  retaliation  or  revenge,  is  the  result  of  a 
lack  of  scientific  insight,  especially  of  psychologic  under- 
standing. Let  us  not  forget  that  we  can  never  radically 
change  a  child  whatever  influences  we  can  bring  to  bear  up- 
on him — we  can  only  develop  those  qualities  which  he  al- 
ready possesses  in  a  manner  as  will  turn  them  to  best  advan- 
tage. This  implies,  to  be  sure,  also  a  repression  or  re-direc- 
tion of  impulses  and  instincts  which  are  disadvantageous 
from  the  viewpoint  of  constructive  civilization.  But  this  re- 
pression and  re-direction  must  after  all  come  from  within, 
to  be  lasting,  from  an  awakening  of  the  inhibitory  powers  of 
self-control  and  higher  motives.  A  mere  external  repression 
would  never  be  permanent. 

Old-fashioned  punishment  is  negative  in  character.  It 
may  act  as  a  deterrent  inasmuch  as  the  child  receiving  a  pain 
sensation  of  some  kind  may  be  momentarily  checked  in  his 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       273 

unbridled  impulse  and  have  time  for  reflection.  Even  if  the 
punishment  should  be  "deserved,"  that  is  to  say  if  there  was 
justice  and  fairness  on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  mere  punish- 
ment goes  no  farther.  A  teacher  has  been  quoted  as  saying: 
"When  a  child  is  punished  I  sometimes  think  that  he  feels 
that  he  has  had  his  way,  and  that  having  paid  the  price  the 
account  is  squared.  If  willing  to  pay  the  price  he  feels  that 
he  can  do  the  same  thing  over  again;  no  finer  moral  (Jeter- 
rent  having  been  infused  by  the  punishment." 

Punishment  is  often  enough  the  confession  of  weakness  on 
the  part  of  the  educator.  If  we  could,  or  knew  how  to,  con- 
trol at  every  moment  all  the  influences  working  upon  the 
child,  there  would  be  little  occasion  for  abnormal  develop- 
ment. Punishment,  then,  which  is  called  forth  by  some  sort 
of  real  or  seeming  perversion  in  the  child,  is  frequently  a  des- 
perate attempt  to  remedy  the  effect  of  our  own  helplessness, 
neglect,  ignorance,  or  blunders.  If  we  would  alwa5rs  consid- 
er this  fact  we  should  be  less  ready  to  punish  the  child ;  some- 
times the  punishment  should  be  applied  "higher  up".  And 
then  punishment  appeals  to  one  of  the  lowest  and  most  primi- 
tive instincts  of  childhood,  to  fear.  Fear,  however,  is  the 
worst  possible  incentive  to  right  doing.  It  has  its  place  only 
on  the  lowest  rung  of  the  ladder  of  the  child's  evolution. 

We  shall  reach  the  best  results  by  kindling  in  the  child's^ 
breast  the  right  incentives;  and  as  each  child  feels  and  acts 
and  reacts  in  his  own  individual  way,  the  only  rational 
method  to  reach  him  is  to  study  him  as  an  individual  and  to 
employ  individual  tests  and  incentives.  Generally  speaking, 
positive  measures  will  be  found  the  most  effective  ones:  en- 
couragement, positive  suggestion,  making  the  child  believe  ^ 
in  his  own  powers  for  good.  " 

In  determining  what  factors  constitute  a  rational  disdpline 
we  must  first  consider  the  causes  of  those  breaks  and  defects 
which  may  call  forth  disciplinary  measures.  There  is  no 
one  such  cause,  and  the  cause  is  not  always  of  what  may  be 
styled  a  moral  nature.  The  doctrine  of  original  sin  and  to- 
tal depravity  has  worked  so  much  mischief  in  the  ethical  and 
religious  evolution  of  mankind  that  we  should,  in  our  dealing 
with  children,  eliminate  it  from  our  pedagogical  catechism. 


274      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

In  the  course  of  countless  ages,  since  the  early  beginnings 
of  the  human  race  on  this  globe,  there  has  been  evolved  a  type 
of  man  which  we  may  call  the  normal  civilized  t)T)e.  This 
evolution  was  controlled  by  the  well-known  law  of  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest.  The  civilized  type  is  the  normal  type  of 
the  present  time  because  it  most  closely  corresponds  to  the 
conditions  which  determine  human  existence  on  earth.  Every 
deviation  from  the  normal  type  stamps  an  individual  as  more 
or  less  exceptional.  As  will  be  shown  in  the  chapter  on  de- 
fectives, and  in  the  chapter  on  criminality  in  children,  there 
are  several  kinds  of  true  abnormality.  One  is  caused  by 
arrested  development;  the  second  by  pathological  changes. 
The  first  class  comprises  those  individuals  whose  devel- 
opment was  normal  enough  as  far  as  it  went — but  it 
was  checked  for  some  reason  or  other  before  it  reached  the 
present  normal  level  of  typical  man.  Persons  of  this  class 
represent  a  more  or  less  primitive  or  savage  tjqie,  with  ab- 
original instincts  in  full  force  which  have  been,  in  normal 
man,  restrained  by  the  effects  of  later  civilization;  and  with 
a  lower  degree  of  intellectuality.  Defectives  of  this  kind 
are  seldom  redeemable.  They  are  the  congenital  idiots,  crim- 
inals, degenerates,  etc.  In  the  pathological  group,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  defect  is  the  result  of  disease,  of  functional 
disturbance.  Derangements  of  the  nervous  system  are  at 
the  bottom  of  many  of  the  symptoms  observable  in  these  in- 
dividuals, be  they  of  a  physical,  intellectual,  or  moral  na- 
ture. 

As  in  other  pathological  cases,  there  are  in  these,  different 
degrees  of  severity.  Some  are  chronic,  others  acute;  some 
individuals  will  forever  retain  a  certain  amount  of  irregular- 
ity ;  with  others,  the  irritation,  derailment,  or  weakness  is  only 
temporary.  Some  will  need  special  treatment,  in  special 
classes  or  schools;  others  can  be  dealt  with  in  the  ordinary 
classes.  But  in  every  instance  curative,  not  penal,  measures 
are  required  in  the  handling. 

The  author  has  carried  on  special  investigations  of  the 
problem  of  the  exceptional  child,  and  refers  to  his  other  pub- 
lications on  the  subject.  It  has  been  his  endeavor  to  evolve 
a  suitable  classification  and  terminology  which  could  be  used 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       275 

as  a  working  basis  for  further  researches,  and  this  classifica- 
tion, as  finally  formulated  in  a  paper  presented  before  the 
Atlantic  City  meeting  of  the  American  Academy  of  Medi- 
cine, has  met  with  a  cordial  reception  and  is  at  present  recog- 
nized by  many  as  a  helpful  starting  point.* 

Some  seeming  abnormalities  are  really  symptoms  of  nor- 
mal conditions.  Let  us  be  reminded  of  those  periods  in  the 
life  of  a  child  when  grave  functional  changes  are  taking  place, 
as  for  example  the  fatigue  period  from  8  to  lO  years  of  age, 
and  the  pubescent  and  adolescent  periods  from  12  to  20. 
Judicious  and  discreet  handling  of  these  cases  is  particularly 
mandatory  lest  the  temporary  aberrations  and  morbid  devel- 
opments, due  as  they  are  to  natural  irritations  of  the  nervous 
system  at  these  periods,  lead  to  permanent  defects.  One  of 
the  characteristic  troubles  of  both  these  periods  is  truancy, 
which  in  these  cases  is  largely  due  to  reverberations  of  the 
migratory  instinct,  as  set  forth  before.  Says  Hawthorne,  in 
his  "Twice-Told  Tales",  in  beginning  the  story  of  "Little 
Annie's  Ramble":  "She  feels  that  impulse  to  go  strolling 
away — that  longing  after  the  mystery  of  the  great  world — 
which  many  children  feel,  and  which  I  felt  in  my  childhood." 
And  so  Annie  and  Hawthorne  wander  forth,  forgetting  to 
tell  anybody  of  their  ramble,  so  that  the  afflicted  mother  had 
to  send  the  town-crier  after  the  strayed  child. 

In  fact,  most  cases  of  truancy  may  be  explained  not  so 
much  by  an  inherent  viciousness  of  the  child,  as  by  conditions 
which  make  school  life  a  burden  or  a  monotony  to  him.  The 
normal  child  in  a  school  adapted  to  his  needs  will  never  play 
truant. 

The  cause  of  children's  seeming  misdemeanors  is  often 
grossly  misinterpreted.  Not  only  that  we  misjudge  the  mo- 
tives of  children  too  frequently — we  take  it  for  granted  that 


*Cf.  (a)  "Classification  of  Exceptional  Giildren  as  a  Guide 
in  Determining  Segregation",  Bulletin  of  the  American  Academy 
of  Medicine,  Vol.  X,  No.  5,  October,  1909. 

(b)  "Mid-Year  Statement  of  the  National  Association  for  the 
Study  and  Education  of  Exceptional  Children",  Watchung 
Crest,  Plainfield,  N.  J.,  September  i,  1909. 


276       THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

the  child  is  to  blame  when  it  is  really  ourselves,  or  the  con- 
ditions under  which  the  child  works  that  are  responsible. 
A  child  may  not  really  know  or  understand  what  is  expected 
of  him,  and  may  need  information  and  help  rather  than  pun- 
ishment. And  again,  physical  irregularities,  in  digestion  and 
circulation,  in  hearing  and  seeing,  ill-fitting  clothing,  lack  of 
proper  nutrition,  etc.,  may  be  the  potent  causes  of  irritation 
and  sulkiness.  Indolence  is  in  many  instances  a  disease,  not 
a  moral  defect.  And  even  if  it  were  a  "moral"  defect,  what 
does  that  mean?  It  implies  lack  of  will  power,  lack  of  self- 
control,  of  application  and  concentration.  It  means  defective 
development  of  the  higher  association  centers,  of  inhibition 
and  voluntary  adjustment.  The  cause  of  all  this  may  be  con- 
stitutional ;  it  may  be  the  effect  of  arrested  development,  of 
functional  disturbances  in  the  nervous  system,  and  what  not. 
Let  us  seek  for  the  cause,  and  remove  it  if  we  can — not 
punish  the  symptom.  A  similar  argument  may  be  advanced 
in  the  matter  of  children's  lies  which  require  a  particularly 
intelligent  handling. 

Furthermore,  an  overheated  or  overcrowded  room,  lack  of 
oxygen  and  of  exercise,  fatigue,  nervous  tension  due  to  un- 
hygienic conditions  of  work  and  program,  of  seats  and  desks, 
and  light  and  air,  etc.,  etc. ;  the  effect  of  the  weather  upon 
pupils  and  teachers,  and  many  other  things  may  be  responsible 
for  many  disagreeable  happenings  in  the  schoolroom.  It  has 
been  statistically  proven  that  more  crimes  and  suicides  have 
been  committed,  and  more  school  punishments  recorded,  on 
cloudy  days,  or  when  the  air  was  oppressive,  the  weather 
threatening,  and  the  electric  tension  excessive,  than  op  bright 
and  pleasant  days.  And  have  the  varying  moods  of  the 
teacher  nothing  to  do  with  this  effect?  Again,  sometimes  the 
child  comes  to  school  from  a  stormy  home  atmosphere  which 
has  swept  away  the  current  of  his  energy  and  left  him  deplete 
of  cheerfulness.  In  other  instances,  a  refreshing  or  cleansing 
bath  will  readily  wash  off  the  repulsive  ugliness  which  had 
clogged  the  child's  physical  and  moral  pores. 

Or,  the  child  is  mischievous  because  he  wants  to  get  rid  of 
accumulated  energy  which  must  be  expended  in  some  way. 
Is  he  to  blame  if  we  fail  to  direct  this  activity  into  the  proper 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       277 

channels  where  it  may  be  turned  to  advantage  and  be  con- 
verted into  a  constructive  force? 

A  rational  discipline,  be  it  repeated,  will  be  characterized 
by  positive  measures  and  influences.  It  will  be  based  upon  the 
old  experience  that  an  ounce  of  prevention  is  better  than  a 
pound  of  cure,  and  that  a  busy  child  is  seldom  a  mischievous 
child.  There  should  greet  the  child  a  bright  schoolroom  over 
which  a  bright,  sympathetic,  well-trained  and  intelligent 
teacher  presides.  The  physical  light  will  be  transformed  into 
mental  and  emotional  light;  the  brightness  of  the  room  will 
inspire  the  children  to  be  bright  and  cheerful. 

Light,  indeed,  there  be,  and  an  abundance  of  it.  Proper 
hygienic  conditions  generally.  A  hygienically  constructed 
school  house,  schoolroom,  daily  program  and  course  of  study 
are  in  themselves  mighty  agents  in  matters  of  discipline. 
There  must  be  a  recognition  of  the  individual  needs  of  each 
and  every  child,  physical,  mental,  and  moral.  There  must  be 
healthy  work  which  keeps  the  children  busy  because  it  is  ade- 
quate to  their  ability  and  natural  interests,  and  which  will 
concentrate  their  attention.  Their  interests,  not  their  pleas- 
ure. There  is  a  fine  distinction  between  interesting,  and 
amusing,  or  pleasing,  a  child.  Manual  work,  excursions,  phy- 
sical training,  etc.,  will  afford  an  outlet  for  those  pent-up  en- 
ergies which  require  direction. 

Of  course,  there  will  arise,  in  spite  of  all  precautions,  op- 
portunities for  unhappiness  and  friction.  Here  the  teacher's 
tact  and  justice  must  come  forward.  His  aim  must  be,  not 
to  enforce  an  outward  conformity,  but  to  develop  motives 
for  right  action  in  the  heart  of  the  child.  A  child  is  ever 
open  to  timely  suggestions.  The  suggestiveness  of  children 
is  marvelous,  and  just  as  it  is  not  infrequently  the  cause  of 
much  morbid  development,  it  will,  in  the  hands  of  the  tact- 
ful educator,  become  a  serviceable  and  indispensable  means 
for  the  building  up  of  wholesome  motives  and  ideals  in  the 
mind  of  the  child.  Prof.  Baldwin,  in  his  book  on  "Mental 
Development,"  states:  "The  transition  from  the  involuntary 
class  of  muscular  reactions  to  which  the  general  word  'sug- 
gestion' applies,  to  the  performance  of  actions  foreseen  and 
intended,  occurs    .     .     .     thru  the  persistence  and  repeti- 


278       THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

tion  of  imitative  suggestions."  We  see,  then,  the  determina- 
tive effect  which  suggestions  have  upon  the  development  of 
the  child's  will. 

Whenever  there  are  cases  of  persistent  wilfulness,  do  not 
become  angry  or  impatient.  Punishment  will  avail  little,  it 
may  even  increase  the  stubborn  resistance.  In  fact,  it  will 
often  act  as  a  sort  of  additional  suggestion  toward  the  wrong 
action,  concentrating  as  it  does  the  child's  attention  still  more 
forcibly  upon  it.  Stubbornness  is  frequently  the  result  of 
some  persistent  idea  in  the  mind  which  craves  attention  and 
crowds  out  other  thoughts,  and  has  the  effect  of  an  almost  in- 
sane auto-suggestion.  The  best  plan  under  such  circum- 
stances is  to  make  as  little  as  possible  of  the  perverse  activity 
and  to  gently  lead  the  child's  attention  away  from  the  per- 
sistent idea  into  another  channel. 

An  early  training  in  obedience  will  do  much  to  guard  the 
child  against  the  development  of  fits  of  stubbornness,  no 
doubt.  Yet,  a  child's  obedience  is  not  a  virtue.  It  has  noth- 
ing in  common  with  the  willing  submission  of  the  mature 
mind  to  natural  and  ethical  law.  The  child  has  not  this 
maturity.  His  obedience  is  a  reflex  habit,  acquired  in  the 
earliest  years  by  careful  and  consistent  training.  The  early 
implicit  belief  in  authority,  characteristic  of  the  period  of 
childhood,  is  quite  instrumental  in  deepening  the  effect  of 
the  early  training  in  the  habit  of  obedience.  It  can  be  pre- 
served only  by  ever-purposeful  and  harmonious  treatment 
on  the  part  of  all  educative  forces, — a  treatment  which 
should  never  be  harsh  and  tyrannical,  but  always  firm  and  in- 
telligent. Disobedience,  if  it  is  not  the  effect  of  pathological 
conditions,  is  invariably  due  to  inconsistent  and  unwise  treat- 
ment. 

Prompt  obedience  being  a  reflex  habit,  the  faculty  to  ren- 
der it  can  also  be  trained  by  proper  exercises  in  attention 
and  reaction.  Among  these  are  the  rising  and  standing  on 
signal,  taking  books  and  pencils  out  in  a  certain  order,  cal- 
isthenic  and  rhythmic  exercises,  drills  of  various  kinds.  If 
these  things  are  not  overdone  so  as  to  degenerate  into  pe- 
dantic formalism,  they  are  helpful  in  the  training  of  the 
senses,  of  muscular  co-ordination  and  nerve-control.     They 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       279 

tend  to  shorten  what  is  called  the  reaction  time,  i.  e.,  the  time 
which  elapses  between  a  sensation  and  the  responsive  activi- 
ty set  free  by  the  brain  which  receives  the  sensory  message. 

Generally,  inasmuch  as  this  responsive  activity  in  its  evolution 
from  mere  reflex  reaction  to  a  co-operation  of  the  higher 
centers  becomes  truly  voluntary, — exercises  of  this  kind,  and 
manual  work,  art  work,  constructive  work  of  all  sorts,  prove 
their  value  for  the  training  of  the  will.  The  will,  like  any 
other  faculty  of  the  human  soul,  can  be  trained  only  by  prac- 
tice. 

This  training  of  the  will  thru  exercises  in  reflex  activity  is 
the  reverse  process  from  the  one  which  first  engages  the  vdll 
to  develop  activities  which  may  become  reflex  or  auto- 
matic by  practice.  In  the  case  under  discussion,  what  is  meant 
is  the  evolution  of  a  higher  consciousness  and  self-control 
from  the  combination  of  lower  excitations  on  a  higher  as- 
sociative level.  Both  processes  are  active  in  the  development 
of  the  will,  being  mutually  subservient.  Yet,  it  is  plain 
that  the  higher  organisms,  being  distinguished  from  the  low- 
er by  the  development  of  these  higher  brain  levels  which  are 
conducive  to  consciousness  and  true  volition,  have  been 
evolved  by  the  force  of  natural  causes,  thru  reaction  upon 
external  stimuli,  from  those  lower  forms  where  there  is  no 
conscious  activity. 

There  is  no  better  way  for  the  training  of  our  pupils  in 
self-control  than  to  give  them  chances  to  exercise  it.  That 
is  to  say,  we  must  early  enlist  their  own  sense  of  responsi- 
bility. As  a  rule,  we  govern  too  much,  and  hedge  in  our 
pupils  with  a  large  number  of  rules  and  restrictions  the 
sense  of  which  they  cannot  often  fathom.  This  is  the  surest 
way  of  weakening  their  will-power  towards  right  living.  An 
arm  all  bandaged  up,  or  chained  to  a  wall,  will  lose  its 
strength  and  flexibility;  and  a  mind  never  allowed  to  move 
freely,  will  never  be  independent.  Or  again,  our  efforts  to 
restrict  the  youthful  spirit  of  our  pupils  and  to  tie  them  down 
to  a  set  of  mechanical  regulations,  may  call  forth  a  feeling  of 
resentment  in  their  maturing  minds,  and  while  we  may  suc- 
ceed in  repressing  open  rebellion,  there  will  be  estrangement. 
And  can  we  suppose  that  we  may  train  a  body  of  children 


28o      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

to  republican  citizenship  if  we  lord  it  over  them  all  the 
while  in  true  monarchical  fashion?  Indeed,  by  enlisting  the 
co-operation  of  our  pupils,  by  allowing  them  an  increasing 
amount  of  freedom  and  self-government  the  older  and  ma- 
turer  they  grow,  we  shall  not  only  lighten  our  own  burdens 
of  discipline,  but  enable  the  children  to  develop  in  their  souls 
the  precious  faculties  of  self-confidence,  self-control,  and 
civic  responsibility. 

And  in  employing  methods  of  discipline,  let  us  be  re- 
minded again  and  again  of  the  different  stages  the  child  passes 
thru  from  infancy  to  adolescence.  To  each  of  these  stages, 
different  methods  will  have  to  be  applied,  because  the  stand- 
ard of  the  child's  emotions,  thoughts  and  activities  changes 
materially  during  these  periods. 

It  is  the  most  absurd  thing  in  the  marking  of  school  rec- 
ords to  mark  that  intangible  thing  which  is  called  "conduct". 
It  would  require  a  more  than  human — it  would  require  a  div- 
ing insight  into  the  workings  of  the  human  heart,  to  say  with 
any  amount  of  accuracy  and  justice  that  one  child's  conduct 
is  lo  per  cent,  or  20  per  cent,  better  than  another's.  For 
in  the  problems  of  discipline,  what  are  we  concerned  in  if  not 
in  character-building?  Character — and  the  power  for  good. 
This  once  realized  in  our  own  minds,  we  shall  reduce  the 
various  expressions  of  individual  attitudes  as  we  meet  them 
in  the  daily  life  of  the  schoolroom,  to  their  just,  relative  pro- 
portions. 

To  do  this,  the  teacher  himself  must  have  the  right  spirit 
and  attitude.  He  must  believe  in  the  child's  better  nature; 
he  must  not  weigh  down  the  child's  soul  by  distrust,  bitter- 
ness, sarcasm  and  injustice.  Injustice  destroys  the  child's 
confidence  which  it  is  naturally  so  ready  to  bestow;  often  it 
causes  utter  grief  and  resentment.  The  teacher  who  is  an 
inspiration  to  his  pupils  and  who  possesses  their  implicit  con- 
fidence and  trust,  will  never  be  much  worried  by  petty  mat- 
ters of  discipline.  He  who  knows  how  to  arouse  and  hold 
his  pupils'  attention  and  interest,  will  have  rare  occasion  for 
fault-finding  and  punishment. 

Here,  the  teacher,  the  true  teacher,  is  recognized  to  be  an 
artist  whose  wonderful  achievements  are  due  to  the  intuition 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       281 

of  genius.  It  is  the  privilege  of  the  artist,  and  the  secret  of 
his  uplifting  influence  upon  his  surroundings,  that  he  can  see 
beauty  in  everything. 

This  thought  has  perhaps  been  never  expressed  as  fitly  as 
in  the  words  of  Elmer  E.  Brown,  now  Commissioner  of 
Education,  in  an  article  which  he  wrote  years  ago.    Said  he: 

"For  the  artist  teacher,  it  is  of  first  importance  to  be  able 
to  see  the  good.  Every  school  superintendent  knows  the 
teacher  who  has  skill  in  finding  the  worst  side  of  children; 
but  such  a  teacher  is  not  a  true  artist.  There  is  another  type 
of  teacher,  by  no  means  rare — the  teacher  who  finds  good  in 
every  pupil,  no  matter  how  deeply  it  be  overlaid  with  evil. 
In  comparison  with  the  severe  critic  of  childhood,  this  teacher 
seems  a  fond  and  foolish  dupe.  I  suspect  that  all  true  artists 
are  affected  with  a  certain  sort  of  blindness.  It  is  a  merciful 
provision  which  enables  them  to  see  realities  without  the  in- 
trusion of  actualities.  The  existence  of  this  blind  spot  must 
be  taken  into  account  when  we  ask  real  teachers  to  make  an 
impartial  and  dispassionate  study  of  their  children.  'To  see 
the  best,'  as  Mr.  Barrie  has  said,  'is  to  see  most  clearly;'  and 
he  adds  that  'it  is  the  lover's  privilege.'  But  next  to  the 
lover,  it  is  the  artist's  privilege.  This  means,  for  the  teacher, 
that  it  is  his  to  find  some  aptitude  in  the  dullest  pupil  and 
some  virtue  in  the  most  vicious.  He  may  reveal  to  his  pupils 
capabilities  and  aspirations  which  they  had  never  themselves 
discovered.  It  is  not  enough  that  he  believe  them  to  be  good 
for  something:  he  must  have  the  wit  to  find  what  that  some- 
thing is.  .  .  .  It  is  not  by  frivolous  condescension  to 
their  childishness  that  the  true  teacher  nears  himself  to  his 
charges.  He  takes  them  by  the  hand  and  leads  them  up  to 
the  higher  ground  where  he  is  himself  at  home.  ...  A 
great  teacher  is  one  in  whose  presence  we  think  great 
thoughts;  but  our  best  teachers  are  they  who  lead  us  to  our 
noblest  thoughts  after  their  bodily  presence  is  withdrawn." 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
The  Treatment  of  Defectives 

THERE  is  a  class  of  children  who  for  many  ages 
past  have  been  the  object  of  much  misdirected 
indignation  and  condemnation,  who  have  not 
seldom  been  considered  as  incarnations  of  the 
devil,  when  they  were  largely  the  product  of  vices 
of  their  ancestors,  of  the  injustice  practiced  in  our  yet  rather 
unenlightened  society,  and  of  a  generally  unhealthy  environ- 
ment; at  any  rate,  of  conditions  for  which  they  were  not  re- 
sponsible. It  is  a  sad  chapter  in  the  history  of  our  race  in 
which  the  treatment  of  defectives  is  written — cruel,  vindic- 
tive, reckless  as  it  has  often  been.  And  where  these  unfor- 
tunates were  not  subjected  to  barbaric  measures  which  were 
intended  to  drive  out  the  evil  spirits  supposedly  possessing 
them,  they  suffered  from  neglect  or  were  made  the  butt  of 
ridicule.  The  poor  simpleton  hooted  at  by  ragamuffins  in  the 
street,  the  "fool"  hung  over  with  gilded  bells  and  abused  to 
please  the  drunken  guests  at  some  king's  court,  the  blind  beg- 
gar in  the  public  thorofare — they  all  testified  to  the  crude- 
ness  of  an  age  when  the  thought  that  these  unhappy  persons 
ought  to  be  the  subjects  of  sympathetic  care,  and  that  much 
might  be  done  to  alleviate  their  suffering  and  restore  them  to 
approximately  normal  conditions,  had  not  yet  dawned  upon 
men.  Luckily  we  are  now  living  in  a  more  enlightened  age, 
and  many  burdens  have  already  been  lifted  from  the  shoulders 
of  our  ill-fated  brethren  and  sisters.  We  have  asylums  for 
our  insane,  and  institutions  for  defectives  of  all  kinds,  for  the 
deaf  and  dumb  and  crippled  and  blind,  and  many  are  re- 
deemed from  apparent  degeneracy  to  enter  upon  a  useful  life. 

282 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      283 

And  yet  there  are  still  many  who  do  not  receive  the  atten- 
tion and  care  and  ready  sympathy  they  stand  so  much  in  need 
of.  The  most  pronounced  cases  are  recognized  and,  as  a  rule, 
properly  handled ;  but  our  schools  and  homes  are  full  of  such 
as  are  dragging  along  an  unlucky  existence  because  their  con- 
ditions are  not  understood. 

In  order  to  arrive  at  an  intelligent  appreciation  of  the  sub- 
ject under  discussion,  it  may  be  well  to  review  the  different 
classes  of  defectives  which  may  be  met  with.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  mention  those  afflicted  children  whose  senses  are 
so  badly  impaired  that  they  are  readily  recognized  as  defec- 
tives. We  may,  however,  remember  that  some,  while  not 
really  blind  or  deaf,  have  such  defective  vision  or  hearing  that 
they  are  prevented  from  doing  normal  work.  Leaving  out 
this  class  for  the  present,  we  may  distinguish  two  great 
groups  of  defectives.  First  there  are  those  suffering  from 
genuine  psychoses,  i.  e.  mental  diseases.  Here  again  we  have 
several  subdivisions,  viz.:  Those  in  whom  we  can  observe 
insanity  proper,  then  idiots,  and  finally  criminals.  On  the 
other  hand  we  have  the  group  of  what  German  psychologists 
have  called  " psychopath ische  Minderwerthigkeiten,"  a  term 
not  easily  translated  into  English.  We  may  designate  them, 
following  Van  Liew's  translation  of  the  term,  as  "minor  men- 
tal abnormalities." 

Both  groups  are  characterized  by  abnormal  development 
either  from  congenital  causes  (i.  e.  those  working  upon  the 
child  before  birth),  or  in  consequence  of  pathological  influ- 
ences of  some  kind  after  birth,  or  from  both  causes.  There  is 
noticeable  an  undeveloped  state  of  body  and  mind,  which 
represents  either  arrested  development  or  pathological  aberra- 
tion of  organ  and  function.  Oftentimes  the  source  of  arrest 
or  aberration  was  an  accidental  one,  and  the  consequences 
could  have  been  obviated  had  there  been  an  early  recognition. 
Certain  periods  in  a  child's  life  are  particularly  fertile  in 
causes  of  temporary  derangements  which  need  careful  and 
wise  attention.  Let  us  be  reminded  of  the  fatigue  period  at 
eight  or  nine,  when  undue  forcing  of  the  child  may  produce 
lasting  debility  which  may  injure  not  only  his  physical  but 
his  spiritual  growth.     Particularly  fraught  with  perils  are 


284      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

the  periods  of  pubescence  and  adolescence  when  our  girls 
and  boys  represent  the  adventurous  stage  in  the  development 
of  state  and  nation,  when  their  actions  bear  a  striking  resem- 
blance, not  only  to  the  habits  of  pioneer  and  frontier  life,  but 
also  to  the  life  of  those  strata  of  society  which  even  in  our 
present  civilization  must  be  considered  as  residual  of  past 
historical  stages  of  race  development.  The  migratory  impulse 
which  is  so  largely  the  basis  and  explanation  of  truancy  at 
this  age,  is  very  characteristic  for  the  spirit  of  our  adolescents 
no  more  than  for  the  reckless  life  habits  of  a  certain  portion 
of  our  population.  In  his  study  of  The  Migratory  Impulse 
vs.  The  Ivove  of  Home  (Amer.  Journal  of  Psychology,  X,  i) 
Mr.  L.  W.  Kline  shows  that  many  "have  an  insatiable  de- 
sire for  conjuring  with  the  unknown  factor  that  lurks  in  the 
untried,  to  commit  their  fortunes  to  the  play  of  the  mys- 
terious and  unconscious  forces  of  the  universe  which  to  so 
many  lend  an  irresistible  charm  to  a  new  game,  new  neigh- 
bors, a  new  house,  a  new  farm,  a  new  position,  a  new  enter- 
prise. In  gambling  it  is  the  element  of  chance,  in  trading  and 
barter  it  is  termed  luck.  Hence  it  is  that  we  find  so  many 
of  these  people  doing  a  shiftless,  bartering,  and  gambling 
business  where  the  conditions  of  chance  and  luck  have  their 
fullest  swing.  In  all  probability  these  conditions  were  at 
their  best  during  the  life  of  the  primitive  hunter  and  trapper. 
Here  the  probability  that  labor  will  be  proportionately  re- 
warded is  at  a  minimum.  The  ratio  of  reward  to  labor  be- 
comes so  infinitely  small  that  he  comes  to  regard  his  rewards 
and  successes  as  due  to  chance  rather  than  personal  effort. 
One  should  not  wonder,  then,  at  barbarous  and  semi-civilized 
people  persistently  and  continually  creating  conditions  in 
which  chance  is  at  a  maximum.  Trapping,  hunting  and  fish- 
ing are  pursuits  that  reward  more  by  chance  than  deliberate 
effort  or  certainty.  Daily  bread  is  the  reward  of  one  lucky 
arrow,  spear,  trap,  or  net  out  of  a  hundred  of  such  instru- 
ments, and  not  by  the  sweat  of  the  brow.  The  psychology 
of  longing  to  be  in  some  other  place,  for  new  conditions,  for 
speculating,  for  gambling,  is  a  reassertion  of  the  old  associa- 
tion between  chance  and  reward  formed  when  the  welfare  of 
man   was  largely  dependent  on   the   mysterious   forces  of 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       285 

chance." 

This  view  of  the  psychology  of  these  cases  of  lower  hu- 
manity is  corroborated  by  many  other  observations.  Miss 
Jane  Adams  of  Hull  House,  Chicago,  once  remarked  that  a 
very  little  familiarity  with  the  poor  districts  of  any  city  is 
sufficient  to  show  how  primitive  and  frontier-like  are  the 
neighborly  relations  among  this  class  of  people.  Later  she 
points  out  the  impossibility  of  substituting  a  higher  ethical 
standard  for  a  lower  one  without  the  intermediate  stages  of 
growth.  And,  again,  she  speaks  of  the  ethical  epochs  to 
which  the  different  types  of  defectives  and  paupers  belong. 
"We  are,"  she  says,  "singularly  slow  to  apply  the  evolution- 
ary principle  to  human  affairs  in  general." 

It  requires  but  little  reflection  to  understand  how  in  our 
adolescents,  by  neglect  of  their  particular  needs,  we  may 
cause  such  an  arrest  of  their  normal  development  that  they 
will  never  grow  beyond  this  primitive  stage  and  thus  be- 
come permanently  defective — from  the  point  of  view  of  pro- 
gressive civilization. 

They  will  never  grow  beyond  this  stage?  That  would 
designate  them  as  hopeless  cases.  Strong  as  this  statement 
may  appear,  and  altho  it  may  not  apply  generally,  pro- 
vided the  symptoms  of  defectiveness  are  early  recognized  and 
adequately  treated, — we  must  not  blind  ourselves  against  the 
sad  fact  that  there  is  indeed  a  percentage  of  defectives  which 
we  are  forced  to  pronounce  as  unredeemable.  Cretinism,  e. 
g.,  is  well  known  as  an  incurable  malady  in  which  bodily  de- 
formity and  mental  imbecility  combine.  Cretinism  as  well 
as  idiocy  admits  of  no  complete  restoration,  altho  we  may 
mitigate  it  to  a  certain  extent.  The  feeble-minded  and  also 
the  morally  abnormal  ought  never  to  be  allowed  to  re-enter 
human  society  or  propagate  their  kind  after  their  own  free 
will,  as  far  as  they  have  any. 

Among  the  many  causes  producing  these  unredeemable  de- 
fects are  hereditary  influences,  defects  and  vices  in  the  par- 
ents, malnutrition,  the  giving  of  alcohol  to  infants,  epilepsy, 
etc.  Darwin  states  that  idiots  who  resemble  the  lower  spe- 
cies of  primates,  mentally  and  physically,  are  often  much 
more  hairy  than  normal  persons.     "In  idiots,"  says  Pro- 


286      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

fessor  Quantz,*)  "the  higher  volitional  functions  are  ab- 
sent, and  their  restraining  hand — ^which  is  heavy  upon  all 
of  us,  but  unfelt  because  of  its  continual  presence — is  lifted 
from  these  unfortunates,  and  they  often  show  by  action  and 
expression  a  forcible  likeness  to  apes.  The  hopeless  cases, 
which  have  much  less  intelligence  than  apes,  show  such  atav^ 
istic  characteristics  as  the  vacant  stare,  gluttonous  appetite, 
thick,  everted  lips,  ill-formed,  large  ears,  fingers  long  and 
slender." 

Referring  to  Dr.  Hamarberg's  studies.  Dr.  Frederick 
Burk*  reports:  "In  all  cases,  the  brains  of  defectives  showed 
marked  deficiencies.  The  developed  cells  were  far  fewer  in 
number  and  of  irregular  and  retarded  development.  His 
study  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the  idiot  brain  is  one  which 
has  suffered  arrest  of  development  in  some  particular,  in- 
volving larger  or  smaller  areas  of  the  brain,  at  some  early 
period.     *     ♦     ♦ 

"Dr.  Down  some  years  ago  contributed  a  classification  of 
congenial  idiots  according  to  ethnic  types — Negroids,  Malays, 
Indians,  Mongols.  He  asserts  that  more  than  ten  per  cent, 
of  the  congenital  feeble-minded  children  are  typical  Mon- 
gols." 

A  curious  class  of  idiots  are  those  who  exhibit  some  pecu- 
liar excellency  along  a  special  line  of  activity.  To  this  class 
belong  the  negro  idiot,  "Blind  Tom,"  a  musical  prodi- 
gy, and  Inaudi,  the  mathematical  prodigy,  whose  lightning 
calculations  have  been  the  wonder  of  the  world.  Dr.  Fred- 
erick Peterson  made  a  careful  study  of  these  cases.     He  says: 

"We  may  deduce  from  a  study  of  such  cases  several  facts 
which  are  noteworthy.  First,  the  mathematical  aptitude  in 
idiocy  is  never  of  a  high  order.  The  faculty  consists  entirely 
of  excessive  powers  in  mental  arithmetic — in  simple  calcula- 
tion, which  is  a  better  term  to  apply  to  it.  Secondly,  it  is  in- 
stinctive and  congenital.     It  is  observed  only  in  the  cMigen- 


♦Dendro-psychoses,   American  Journal   of   Psychology,   IX,  4. 
♦Development   of   the    Nervous    System,    Pedagogical    Semin- 
ary, VI,   I. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       287 

ital  variety  of  idiots,  imbeciles,  and  degenerates;  and  on 
careful  examination  we  shall  find  anatomical  and  physiologi- 
cal as  well  as  psychological  stigmata  of  degeneration  in  such 
cases.  Thirdly,  much  of  the  faculty  is  due  to  the  increased 
power  of  visualization — to  great  development  of  certain  parts 
of  the  sight  centres.  Most  of  us,  in  mental  arithmetic,  com- 
pute by  means  of  visual  images." 

These  are  his  conclusions:  "The  aptitudes  of  various 
kinds  described  above  as  not  infrequently  encountered  in 
idiots  are  all  of  rather  low  order.  They  are  never  found  in 
any  but  the  congenitally  defective,  who  usually  present  the 
stigmata  of  degeneration.  They  consist  chiefly  of  great 
powers  of  memory,  visual  or  auditory,  and  of  facility  in  im- 
itation. There  is  no  spontaneous  invention.  The  idiots  sa- 
vants are  mere  copyists  in  music,  modeling,  designing,  or 
painting;  yet  at  the  same  time  their  talents  stand  out  in 
strong  contrast  to  their  general  feeble-mindedness.  As  a 
rule,  the  aptitudes  are  precociously  developed,  and  are  fre- 
quently lost  before  reaching  adult  life."* 

Let  us  also  be  clear  about  one  thing:  Idiots  are  absolutely 
incapable  of  what  we  call  choice — they  possess  no  conscious 
individuality — their  mental  activity  is  automatic  and  essen- 
tially irrational.  In  this  respect  they  resemble  very  closely 
that  class  of  criminals  which  we  may  call  "bom  criminals." 
The  following  chapter  contains  a  more  detailed  reference  to 
criminal  tendencies  in  children.  Only  this  may  be  said  here, 
that  criminality  is  either  a  pathological,  i.  e.,  diseased  con- 
dition, or  the  result  of  what  has  been  called  degeneration. 
"By  degeneration,"  says  Fere,  "should  be  understood  the  loss 
of  the  hereditary  qualities  that  have  determined  and  fixed 
the  characteristics  of  the  race." 

The  last  class  of  psychoses  to  which  attention  must  be 
called  is  insanity.  It  may  be  supposed  that  it  is  unnecessary 
to  speak  of  insanity  in  a  discussion  especially  devoted  to  the 
educational  treatment  of  children.    But  this  would  imply  an 


*Cf.  the  author's  paper  on  "Exceptionally  Bright  Children", 
proceedings  of  the  National  Association  for  the  Study  and 
Education  of  Exceptional  Children,  April,  1910. 


288       THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

erroneous  conception.  Even  children  have  not  infrequently 
been  known  to  be  subject  to  mental  derangements  v*^hich 
must  be  classed  as  genuine  insanity.  The  critical  periods  in 
the  life  of  a  child  to  which  reference  has  before  been  made 
are  often  conducive  to  mental  disturbances  of  this  kind, 
again  particularly  the  period  of  sexual  development.  And 
then  insanity  not  only  occurs  in  a  form  more  or  less  perma- 
nent, but  is  much  more  frequently  a  transitory  aberration, 
lasting  some  times  not  longer  than  an  hour.  Physical  irri- 
tations, depressive  influences  (melancholia),  fits  of  despond- 
ency, fright,  etc.,  will  produce  temporary  dementia.  These 
phenomena  must  be  recognized  and  properly  handled,  lest 
they  lead  to  permanent  derangements  which,  as  has  been  in- 
dicated in  earlier  pages,  will  defy  curative  treatment.  Many 
a  case  of  discipline  will  be  understood  in  its  true  causality  if 
we  remember  these  facts.  Further,  nervous  troubles  of  all 
kinds,  neurotic  conditions,  neurasthenia,  in  its  manifold 
forms,  sometimes  border  very  closely  upon  true  mental  aber- 
rations. The  degeneration  and  inhibition  of  motor  expres- 
sion with  a  resultant  breaking  down  of  mental  activity,  such 
as  we  observe  in  incipient  adolescent  insanity,  or  dementia 
praecox,  may  be  mentioned  as  typifying  a  more  radical  and 
permanent  derangement  occasionally  to  be  found  among  our 
youth.  The  prevalence  of  nervous  disorders  in  our  times 
has  led  many  to  believe  that  they  are  becoming  an  increasing 
menace  to  our  civilization  and  should  be  stamped  out.  There 
may  be  a  difference  of  opinion  on  this  point.  But  the  author 
is  inclined  to  agree  with  an  editorial  writer  in  the  "Medical 
Record"  who  says:  "There  can  be  no  doubt  that  if  neurotics 
never  married,  in  the  course  of  time  diseases  of  the  nervous 
system  would  greatly  lessen  and  probably  die  out;  and  it 
may  also  be  true  that  a  world  peopled  with  phlegmatic,  thick- 
skinned  mediocrities  would  be  happier,  in  a  sense.  But  the 
question  may  here  be  asked :  Do  we  want  to  be  without  our 
neurotics  or  can  we  get  along  without  them?  If  history  be 
ransacked,  it  will  be  found  that  most  of  the  great  deeds  of 
the  world  have  been  performed  by  individuals  of  an  highly 
sensitive,  nervous  temperament.  The  contention  too  that 
the   thick-skinned   mediocrities   are   the  happiest   persons  is 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      289 

open  to  doubt.  If  a  more  or  less  animal  life  is  the  end  to  be 
gained,  then  they  may;  but  at  the  same  time  the  fact  ought 
to  be  borne  in  mind  that,  while  they  never  descend  into  the 
depths  of  misery,  like  the  being  with  the  ill-strung  nervous 
S)rstem,  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  they  are  incapable  of  exper- 
iencing many  of  the  delightful  emotions  and  of  ascending  into 
the  heavens  of  joy,  as  are  the  neurotics." 

Insanity  proper  is  a  disease  which  befalls  its  victims  after 
periods  of  health.  In  this  and  in  the  following  point  does  it 
differ  essentially  from  idiocy  which  is  largely  congenital. 
Idiocy  is  an  all  round  mental  imbecility,  the  idiots  savants 
notwithstanding,  while  insanity  unbalances  the  mind  with- 
out necessarily  destroying  the  mental  faculty.  Many  inmates 
of  our  asylums  will  astonish  us  by  their  rational  mentality 
within  the  limits  imposed  upon  them  by  their  disease;  some 
exhibit  a  really  remarkable  genius;  and  indeed,  the  relation 
of  insanity  to  genius  has  often  occupied  and  puzzled  the  mind 
of  many  a  psychologist.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  often  diffi- 
cult to  determine  where  rational  mentality  ends  and  insanity 
begins. 

Some  have  maintained  that  all  these  children  who  are 
classed  among  the  "minor  mental  abnormalities",  and,  in  fact, 
all  persons  who  deviate  in  any  manner  from  the  normal  tjrpe 
have  a  touch  of  insanity  in  their  mental  or  moral  constitution. 
Certainly  they  represent  the  borderland  of  mental  health  and 
psychosis,  and  call  for  the  most  earnest  attention  and  con- 
sideration of  parents,  teachers,  and  physicians.  There  are  a 
large  number  of  "exceptional"  children,  those  who  are  pe- 
culiar or  defective  in  some  way,  and  require  conscientious 
observation  and  adequate  handling. 

A  very  thorough  study  of  these  cases  and  their  history  and 
philosophy  will  be  amply  repaid  by  the  resultant  greater 
facility  in  solving  problems  of  discipline.  Details  cannot 
here  be  given.  Generally  a  distinction  is  made  between 
moral,  mental,  and  physical  defects.  This  is,  however,  an 
artificial  distinction ;  mental  and  moral  abnormalities  go  hand 
in  hand  with,  and  are  essentially  conditioned  by,  disturbances 
in  the  higher  associations  which  lead  to  organized  thinking 
and  self-control;  and  not  infrequently  physical  defects  lead 


290      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

to  apparent  mental  and  moral  derangements.  Captain 
Charles  E.  Woodruff,  assistant  surgeon,  United  States  Army, 
had  a  most  instructive  article  in  the  Philadelphia  Medical 
Journal  for  April  7,  1900,  on  the  use  of  alcohol  by  our 
soldiers  in  the  tropics,  in  the  course  of  which  he  mentions  the 
terrible  nervous  exhaustion  that  results  from  long  exposure 
to  heat  and  moisture;  this  exhaustion  of  the  nervous  tissue, 
he  asserts,  produces  a  temporary  craving  for  alcohol  precisely 
similar  to  that  of  many  periodical  or  chronic  drunkards  or  to 
the  craving  of  certain  degenerates  among  tramps,  beggars, 
and  criminals,  who  are  in  a  condition  of  congenital  nervous 
exhaustion  unfitting  them  for  work,  and  whose  periodical 
orgies  are  proverbial. 

Lying,  disorder,  disobedience,  sexual  aberrations,  etc.,  may 
often  be  traced  to  bodily  causes.  Truants  of  the  degenerate 
type  are  found  to  be  defective  in  sight,  hearing,  growth,  etc. 
Eye  defects  of  various  kinds,  nasal  troubles,  catarrhs,  adenoid 
vegetations,  etc.,  are  frequent  causes  of  mental  and  moral 
derangements,  epilepsy,  neurasthenia,  and  similar  disturb- 
ances. 

Troubles  of  digestion  are  a  frequent  source  in  children, 
of  what  is  called  persistent  ideas,  of  anxiety,  fear,  irritation, 
bordering  on  temporary  insanity.  The  child  does  not  really 
know  or  understand  what  is  the  matter  with  him,  but  is 
obstinate  and  ugly.  Mistaken  strictness  in  such  cases  will 
produce  very  deplorable  results.  We  may  also  be  reminded 
of  the  night-terrors  of  many  children  which  have  their  origin 
generally  in  digestive  disturbances.  Even  temporary  ailments 
in  boys  and  girls  (in  the  case  of  the  latter  particularly  the 
monthly  periods)  will  occasionally  lead  to  mental  and  moral 
disorders. 

In  the  discussion  on  the  troublesome  child  in  school.  Super- 
intendent Lowther  made  these  remarks:  "One  day  a  boy 
came  to  my  office  with  a  note  from  his  teacher  saying  that  the 
bearer  had  become  so  obnoxious  that  it  was  impossible  to 
allow  him  to  remain  in  the  room.  He  was  idle,  noisy,  inat- 
tentive, obstinate,  impudent,  and  perhaps  a  score  of  other 
misdemeanors  could  be  charged  to  his  account.  My  investi- 
gation developed  the  surprising  facts  that  he  was  subject  to 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       291 

violent  fits  of  headache,  that  he  had  some  form  of  catarrh, 
that  he  was  almost  blind  in  one  eye,  and  that  his  hearing  in 
one  ear  was  defective.  He  admitted  that  at  times  he  felt  per- 
fectly miserable.  Poor,  afflicted  boy!  No  wonder  he  grew 
discouraged  as  he  saw  his  inability  to  measure  up  with  his 
classmates!  His  teacher,  ignorant  of  his  defects,  held  him 
responsible  for  all  the  work.  He  became  despondent,  morose, 
distrustful  of  his  teacher,  finally  disliking  her  and  charging 
maltreatment  as  a  cause  for  his  misconduct.  Evidently  the 
first  duty  of  a  teacher  on  observing  a  peculiarity  in  a  child,  is 
to  study  the  cause." 

That  ignorant  and  vicious  methods  of  education  at  home 
and  in  school  will  "spoil"  children,  morally,  and  mentally,  is 
too  well  known  to  require  special  mention.  Many  a  home, 
not  only  in  the  poorer  classes  by  any  means,  forms  the  worst 
imaginable  environment  for  a  child.  The  only  child  in 
families  where  there  are  over-refinement  and  undue  nervous 
tension  offers  a  fruitful  field  of  investigation.  But  there  are 
cases  of  genuine  defectiveness.  Says  Professor  Allen  M. 
Starr:*  "There  is  an  inherent  activity  in  the  brain  of  a  child 
which  leads  to  thought  and  soon  to  actions  and  speech;  yet 
there  are  children  who  never  get  to  the  point  of  definite 
purposeful  activity.  Such  children  are  usually  in  constant 
motion,  but  their  movements  have  no  object.     .     .     . 

"Another  type  of  child  far  less  defective  is  not  uncommonly 
seen,  who  has  nevertheless  failed  to  reach  that  point  of  de- 
velopment which  is  evidenced  by  the  power  of  self  control, 
.  .  .  lapsing  into  a  state  of  apathy  and  mental  inertia 
.  .  .  incapable  of  arousing  (itself)  to  effort.  This  is 
not  laziness — it  is  an  inherent  mental  defect.  .  .  .  That 
self-control  is  the  highest  quality  of  mind  is  evident  from  the 
fact  that  the  first  evidences  of  mental  deterioration  is  seen  in 
a  beginning  failure  of  this  power." 

Lack  of  veracity  in  children  may  sometimes  be  due  to  de- 
fective associations — a  defectiveness  which  leads  to  illusions 
and  hallucinations.    It  has  been  shown  that  there  is  a  physi- 


*Some    Curiosities    of    Thinking,    Popular    Science    Monthly, 
April,  1895. 


292      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

cal  basis  of  precocity  and  dullness.  Dullness  may  be  only 
apparent  and,  as  has  been  indicated  elsewhere,  an  effect  of  a 
slower  rate  of  development  or  a  longer  reaction  time.  "Dull 
and  backward  children",  says  F.  M.  Powell,  (Backward  and 
Mentally  Deficient  Children,  Child  Study  Monthly,  I,  9) 
"varying  in  degrees  of  mental  torpidity,  ...  are  sub- 
jects requiring  distinct  methods  of  stimulation  to  unfold 
intellects  hidden  within  their  tardy  cell  structure.  There 
are  many  factors,  both  physical  and  psychical,  causing  the 
semblance  of  mental  dullness ;  in  the  former  the  cell  structure 
of  the  brain  tissue  develops  slowly  during  the  plastic  period, 
maturing  later  than  the  average,  but  when  fully  developed 
under  favorable  environment,  they  often  rank  with  the  strong- 
est minds.  It  has  been  so  in  the  past  and  will  be  so  in  the 
future.  .  .  .  Webster,  Beecher  and  Frobel  were  of 
this  class.  Also  I  may  mention  Linnaeus,  Volta,  Bums,  Bal- 
zac, Edison  and  Scott  as  dullards  in  youth.  .  .  .  This 
class  of  individuals  is  not  deficient,  but  ripens  late  in  life." 
The  same  author  states  that  a  commission  appointed  by  the 
British  government  to  investigate  the  condition  of  100,000 
school  children  in  Great  Britain  report  seven  per  cent,  as 
being  mentally  dull. 

Real  stupidity  is  a  great  affliction  deserving  of  our  most 
ready  sympathy.  "Natural  stupidity  is  some  form  of  mental 
weakness,  or  the  child's  mind  may  grow  very  slowly,  or  its 
growth  may  be  temporarily  arrested,  or  there  may  be  great 
disproportion  in  the  development  of  its  various  faculties,  or  it 
may  inherit  the  induced  or  natural  stupidity  of  its  parents. 
It  may  be  the  stupidity  of  the  poor  drudge,  prematurely  de- 
prived of  its  right  to  grow  and  play  in  freedom  by  the  needs 
of  life,  stupid  descendant  of  down-trodden  human  beings 
who,  age  after  age,  have  but  one  hope  and  one  aim,  to  keep 
body  and  soul  together  by  unremitting  toil;  or,  again,  the 
stupid  child  of  gifted  parents,  sad,  strange  stupidity  where 
the  parents  seem  to  have  exhausted  all  their  intellectual  force 
in  themselves  and  have  nothing  left  to  bequeath ;  or  what  is 
called  natural  stupidity  may  be  nothing  of  the  kind — only  in 
nine  cases  out  of  ten  a  misinterpretation  of  some  outward 
signs  misinterpreted  by  the  stupidity  of  the  people  who  deal 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       293 

with  it.  ...  The  natural  tendenq^  of  schoolmas- 
ters is  to  condemn  as  stupid  the  child  who  is  dull  in  things 
scholastic.  Life  often  reverses  the  schoolmaster's  verdict,  and 
shows  that  the  so-called  dullness  was  intelligence  which  had 
not  yet  found  its  proper  channel."  (Emily  Miall,  The 
Stupid  Child,  Educational  Foundations,  December,   1897.) 

If  we  are  to  deal  intelligently  with  all  these  cases  of  seem- 
ing or  real  mental  defectiveness,  we  must  first  of  all  resist 
all  promptings  toward  impatience  and  vindictiveness,  and 
assume  the  attitude  of  sympathetic  investigators  and  ration- 
al friends  and  helpers.  Truly  says  Dr.  W.  Xavier  Sudduth 
(Nervous  and  Backward  Children,  Child  Study  Monthly, 
1898) :  "The  old  ideas  of  viciousness  still  obtain  in  regard  to 
the  milder  forms  of  mental  perversion.  Lying,  stealing,  and 
kleptomania,  from  a  biological  standpoint,  are  the  outcrop — 
being  of  purely  natural  instincts,  commendable  in  a  pure  state 
of  nature  ( ?  G) — but  greatly  to  be  deplored  in  our  pres- 
ent state  of  civilization.  If  my  premise  is  correct  it  seems  to 
me  that  the  rationale  of  treatment  does  not  lie  in  harsh,  un- 
sympathetic measures  of  condemnation,  in  which  the  mo- 
tives of  the  individual  are  impugned,  but  in  a  careful  sys- 
tem of  education  looking  toward  the  moral,  intellectual,  and 
physical  upbuilding  of  a  child." 

It  is  impossible  of  course  to  give  here  detailed  prescriptions 
for  the  treatment  of  these  cases.  Individual  adjustment  is 
the  prime  virtue  in  respect  to  it.  In  many  cases  it  is  merely 
a  question  of  right  nutrition,  cleanliness  and  fresh  air.  A 
very  telling  example  is  told  by  Miss  Jane  Addams,  In  the 
Annual  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social 
Science,  as  follows:  "Permit  me  to  illustrate  from  a  group 
of  Italian  women  who  bring  their  underdeveloped  children 
several  times  a  week  to  Hull  House  for  sanitary  treatment, 
under  the  direction  of  a  physician.  It  has  been  possible  to 
teach  some  of  these  women  to  feed  their  children  oatmeal  in- 
stead of  tea-soaked  bread,  but  it  has  been  done,  not  by  state- 
ment at  all,  but  by  a  series  of  gay  little  Sunday  morning 
breakfasts  given  to  a  group  of  them  in  the  Hull  House  Nur- 
sery. A  nutritious  diet  was  thus  substituted  for  an  inferior 
one  by  a  social  method.    At  the  same  time  it  was  found  that 


294      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

certain  of  the  women  hung  bags  of  salt  about  their  children's 
necks  to  keep  off  the  evil  eye,  which  was  supposed  to  give  the 
children  crooked  legs  at  first,  and  in  the  end  to  cause  them 
to  waste  away.  The  salt-bags  gradually  disappeared  under 
the  influences  of  baths  and  cod-liver  oil.  In  short,  rhachitis 
was  skillfully  arrested,  and  without  mentioning  that  disease 
was  caused  not  by  the  evil  eye,  but  by  lack  of  cleanliness  and 
nutrition,  and  without  passing  thru  the  intermediate  belief 
that  disease  was  sent  by  Providence,  the  women  form  a  little 
center  for  the  intelligent  care  of  children,  which  is  making 
itself  felt  in  the  Italian  colony.  Knowledge  was  ap- 
plied in  both  cases,  but  scarcely  as  the  statistician  would  have 
applied  it." 

A  rational  method  of  life  and  tonic  treatment  in  general 
will  do  much  toward  redeeming  deficient  children.  The 
stimulus  of  wholesome  and  interesting  work  thru  which 
a  concentration  of  attention  can  be  effected  will  do  wonders. 
Sense-training  and  manual  work  have  been  shown  to 
be  particularly  helpful  in  this  direction;  in  fact,  they  have 
been  the  only  means  in  many  cases  to  efEect  a  regeneration.  Dr. 
Seguin  says  physiological  training  advocates  that  "the  educa- 
tion of  the  senses  must  precede  the  education  of  the  mind" 
and  the  true  physiological  methods  of  instruction  for  those 
whose  nervous  system  is  imperfectly  developed  are  "to  exer- 
cise the  imperfect  organs  so  as  to  develop  the  functions"; 
and,  second  "to  train  the  functions  so  as  to  develop  the  imper- 
fect organs."  Dr.  Fernald  says:  "As  compared  with  the  ed- 
ucation of  normal  children,  it  is  a  difference  of  degree  and 
not  of  kind." 

Hypnotic  suggestion  has  also  been  applied  with  much  suc- 
cess in  the  case  of  perverse  mentality,  persistent  ideas,  moral 
aberrations,  etc.  Individual  methods,  of  course,  are  the  only 
ones  that  promise  satisfactory  results.  It  is,  therefore,  and 
also  for  the  sake  of  normal  children,  absolutely  necessary 
that  the  defectives  be,  at  least  temporarily,  if  you  will,  re- 
moved from  the  regular  classes  and  educated  in  special 
classes  and  special  schools. 

Professor  Monroe  of  Stanford  University  obtained  data 
relating  to  io,OCX)  pupils  in  California  schools,  finding  ten 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       295 

per  cent,  mentally  dull  and  three  per  cent,  feeble-minded.  He 
states  that  there  are  many  children  in  public  schools  who 
could  be  more  economically  and  wisely  trained  in  schools 
adapted  to  their  special  needs,  and  remarks  "There  are  many 
more  who  altho  not  positively  feeble-minded,  skirt  the  bord- 
erland of  abnormality,  and  because  of  their  large  numbers — 
nearly  ten  per  cent,  of  the  whole  public  school  enrollment — 
should  receive  the  thoughtful  attention  of  teachers  and  spec- 
ialists."    (Quoted  in  Child  Study  Monthly,  March,  1896). 

Very  valuable  and  instructive  is  Mr.  George  Dawson's 
Study  in  Youthful  Degeneracy.  (Pedagogical  Seminary, 
IV,  2.)  He  found  that  compared  with  the  normal  standard 
the  general  health  of  the  delinquent  children  he  studied  was 
poor.  In  height,  weight,  girth  of  chest,  strength  of  grip, 
they  were  also  inferior  to  the  normal  type.  Later  the  author 
speaks  of  "the  neurotic  character  of  many  of  the  delin- 
quents.    .     .     . 

"The  fact  that  the  prevailing  criminal  face  is  unusually 
broad  suggests  that  the  typical  delinquent  may  either  not 
have  outgrown  the  infantile  characteristics  of  his  own  race, 
or  that  he  may  tend  to  revert  to  a  lower  race  altogether." 
He  mentions  many  physical  anomalies  as  indicating  degen- 
eration. "They  are  out  of  harmony  with  their  environ- 
ments; and  are,  far  more  than  is  usually  appreciated,  incapa- 
ble of  meeting  the  demands  of  a  civilization  that  exists  only 
by  assimilating  the  good  and  eliminating  the  bad."  And 
with  regard  to  the  unredeemable  portion  of  these  unfortu- 
nates, Dawson  remarks:  "The  curative  method,  however, 
sure  and  satisfactory  it  may  be  in  many  cases,  falls  short  of 
meeting  all  the  requirements.  There  is  a  residuum  of  bad 
cases  that  cannot  be  gotten  rid  of  thru  physical,  intellectual 
or  moral  discipline.  The  fate  of  an  evil  destiny  is  upon  them. 
.  .  .  Society  has  not  yet  learned  to  supplement  cure 
with  prevention.  It  quarantines  its  communities  or  famil- 
ies infected  by  disease;  it  takes  advantage  of  every  known 
prophylactic  to  prevent  the  onslaught  or  advancement  of 
small-pox  or  yellow-fever;  but  it  throws  no  quarantine  about 
its  plague-spots  of  vice  and  crime;  it  destroys  no  germs  of 
immorality     thru     disinfection.     .     .     .     Like     the     man 


296      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

in  the  allegory,  it  is  chained  to  a  corpse  whose  dissolution 
must  make  civilization  itself  sick  unto  death." 

Isolation — permanent  isolation — is  the  only  measure  pos- 
sible in  these  cases. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  in  classes  or  schools  for 
defectives  only  such  teachers  should  be  employed  who 
have  made  a  particular  and  conscientious  study  of  their 
peculiarities  and  needs.  But  there  are  so  many  different 
grades  of  defectiveness — such  a  fine  shading  into  degeneracy 
proper  on  one  hand,  and  into  normal  mental  health  on  the 
other — and  so  many  will  never  be  recognized  in  their  true 
condition  without  intelligent  and  sympathetic  observation  in 
the  regular  school  classes  that  every  teacher  of  children  should 
make  it  his  duty  to  keep  eyes  and  heart  open  to  reach  out  to 
these  unhappy  creatures  and  to  lift  them  up  to  higher  levels 
of  mentality  and  morality  if  possible. 

Professor  Josiah  Royce,  the  eminent  Harvard  philosopher, 
published  a  contribution  to  the  knowledge  of  mental  dis- 
orders and  defects  from  the  teacher's  point  of  view,  in  the 
Educational  Review  for  October  and  December,  1893,  from 
which  these  helpful  and  inspiring  passages  are  cited:  "There 
is  no  mental  disease  that  is  not  also  a  nervous  disease  .  .  . 
Your  ideal  must  be  here  to  get  a  real,  or  close,  a  truly  psy- 
chological insight  into  this  possibly  deranged  mental  mechan- 
ism. You  must  come  not  now  any  longer  as  disciplinarian, 
but  quite  sincerely  as  friend,  as  humane  man  offering  help 
to  a  younger  brother  in  distress.  .  .  .  You  must  be  a 
true  naturalist,  and  study  this  live  creature,  as  a  biologist 
would  study  cell  growth  under  the  microscope,  or  as  a 
pathologist  would  minutely  examine  diseased  tissues.  In  or- 
der to  study,  you  must,  of  course,  love.  Minds  and  their 
processes  must  be  delightful  things  in  your  eyes.  .  .  . 
Intolerance  and  impatience  have  absolutely  no  place  in  such 
a  scrutiny.  You  must  fear  nothing.  You  will  be  very  tender 
with  the  sanctities  of  youthful  feeling;  but  if  in  the  course 
of  your  scrutiny,  a  poor  heart  gets  open  to  you  and  you  find 
it  a  very  evil  heart  indeed,  you  will  never  show,  yes,  if  you 
are  wise,  you  will  very  seldom  feel  any  contempt." 

The  words  of  Principal  E.  H.  Russel  of  the  Worcester, 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       297 

Mass.,  Normal  School,  will  fitly  close  this  chapter: 

"It  is  a  wholesome  and  helpful  thing  for  a  teacher  to  feel 
that  all  her  pupils  are  exceptional  children — ^which,  indeed, 
in  a  deep  sense  is  always  true." 

To  the  physician,  in  conclusion,  the  advice  should  be  giv- 
en to  seek  in  all  cases  of  this  description  the  counsel  and  co- 
operation of  the  educator  and  psychologist  who,  in  his  turn, 
will  act  wisely  by  combining  his  efforts  with  those  of  the  phy- 
sician so  as  to  establish  perfect  harmony  between  the  vari- 
ous curative  forces  whose  help  is  needed  in  the  treatment  of 
defectives  for  a  further  study  of  this  subject  in  the  light 
of  newer  investigations,  of  the  publications  of  the  National 
Association  for  the  Study  and  Education  of  Exceptional  Chil- 
dren, Plainfield,  N.  J.;  of  the  Research  Department  of  the 
Training  School,  Vineland,  N.  J.,  etc. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

Criminality  in  Children 
I.      AS  TO  CAUSES 

THE  warfare  against  sin  and  crime  is  as  old  as  the 
race.  Yet  the  victory  of  virtue  over  the  powers 
of  evil  is  still  but  a  beautiful  dream.  The  rack, 
the  gallows,  and  the  executioner's  axe,  the  prison 
and  the  torture-chamber,  and  the  multitude  of 
solemn  judges,  grave  juries  and  of  the  less  dignified  beadles 
and  jailers,  which  have  for  so  many  centuries  been  employed 
in  the  fierce  and  merciless  struggle  against  Sin,  by  what  is 
commonly  called  the  administration  of  justice,  have  not 
succeeded  in  exterminating  her.  She  triumphs  now  as  ever. 
Some  of  our  opinions  as  to  what  is  right  or  wrong  have 
changed  somewhat  in  the  course  of  ages;  but  wrong  itself  still 
exists. 

Will  this  go  on  forever?  The  philosophy  of  pessimism 
answers  "Yes."  "We  may,"  says  Schopenhauer,  "demon- 
strate to  the  egoist  that  he  can  gain  large  profits  by  fore- 
going small  gains;  to  the  malicious,  that  causing  pain  to 
others  will  bring  suffering  upon  himself;  but  we  can  never 
hope  to  succeed  in  eliminating  selfishness  and  malice,  as 
little  as  we  can  ever  persuade  a  cat  to  give  up  mousing. 
.  .  .  We  may  enlighten  the  head,  but  the  heart 
will  remain  untouched.  That  which  is  fundamental 
and  fixed,  in  the  province  of  morality,  no  less  than  in  the 
intellect  and  the  physical  constitution,  is  born  with  us;  edu- 
cational influences  can  only  mitigate,  never  radically 
change."* 


♦Die  Kunst  kann  iiberall  nur  nachhelfea 

298 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      299 

What  Schopenhauer  says  is  true  enough;  but  is  it  the 
whole  truth? 

The  well  known  story  of  the  painter's  model  may  serve  to 
illustrate  a  point  in  question.  An  Italian  artist  met  with  a 
child  of  exquisite  beauty,  and  wished  to  preserve  its  features, 
for  fear  he  should  never  see  such  loveliness  again.  So  he 
painted  the  charming  face  upon  canvas,  and  hung  it  upon 
the  walls  of  his  studio.  In  his  most  sombre  hours  that  sweet, 
gentle  countenance  was  like  an  angel  of  light  to  him.  Its 
presence  filled  his  soul  with  the  purest  aspirations.  "If  ever 
I  find,"  he  said,  "a  perfect  contrast  to  this  beauteous  face,  I 
will  paint  that  also,  and  hang  them  side  by  side,  as  ideals  of 
heaven  and  hell."  Years  passed.  At  length,  in  a  distant 
land,  he  saw,  in  a  prison  he  visited,  the  most  hideous  object 
he  ever  gazed  upon, — a  fierce,  haggard  fiend,  with  glaring 
eyes,  and  cheeks  deeply  furrowed  with  lust  and  crime.  The 
artist  remembered  his  vow,  and  immediately  painted  a  pic- 
ture of  this  loathsome  form,  to  hang  beside  the  lovely  boy. 
The  contrast  was  perfect.  His  dream  was  realized.  What 
was  the  surprise  of  the  artist,  on  inquiry  into  the  history  of 
this  horrid  wretch,  to  find  that  he  was  once  that  lovely  boy! 
The  demon  had  once  been  the  angel :  the  innocent  beginning 
and  the  sad  ending  of  a  tragic  romance  of  life.* 

Was  this  evolution  inevitable?  Is  Schopenhauer  right  in 
maintaining  that  education  could  only  have  mitigated,  but 
never  changed,  this  course?  Was  the  angel  predestined  to 
degenerate  into  a  demon,  to  end  his  life  as  a  convict? 

There  are  three  explanations  of  the  apparent  change:  was 
there  a  mistake  in  the  first  judgment?  The  boy's  face  was 
that  of  an  angel,  the  artist  thought.  What  do  we  call  angelic? 
Features  that  are  merely  beautiful,  regular,  and  bewitching 
in  outline?  Blue  eyes,  rosy  cheeks,  ringlets  of  golden  hair? 
Is  an  expressionless  face  angelic?  A  child's  face  looks  un- 
touched, undisturbed,  inexperienced,  so  to  say.  It  may 
move  us  because  of  this  very  absence  of  character,  when  we 
think  of  what  furrows  time  and  sorrow  will  engrave  on  this 
velvety  skin.     But  does  such  an  untouched  face  imply  that 


*Cf.  John  W.  Kramer.    The  Right  Road. 


300      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

behind  it  there  dwells  an  angelic  soul  ?  Indeed  not ;  a  child's 
is  an  untried  soul;  his  possibilities  are  as  yet  unawakened. 
It  requires  a  knowledge  of  human  nature  rather  than  a  mere 
enjoyment  of  childish  beauty  to  understand  a  child.  For  the 
development  of  an  angelic  character,  there  is  often  need  of  a 
long  life  of  trials  and  self -conquest.  The  features  of  a  ripe 
old  man  or  woman  may  be  more  truly  angelic  than  those  of  a 
budding  child.  Or  were  there  bad  influences — an  unwhole- 
some environment — ^which  ruined  an  originally  well-disposed 
heart?  Or,  is  it  possible  that  a  good  child,  endowed  with 
fine  qualities  of  character,  can  suddenly  change  and  become  a 
different  being,  as  it  were?  We  may  find  that  such  reverses 
are  not  infrequent  during  the  pubescent  period,  when  atavis- 
tic traits  are  apt  to  manifest  themselves  and  to  alter  the 
course  of  a  child's  life. 

These  questions,  however,  indicate  plainly  in  what  manner 
alone  we  can  hope  to  gain  an  insight  into  the  nature  of  crim- 
inality, to  wit,  by  investigating  the  causes  and  influences  that 
make  for  crime.  Psychology  and  anthropology  must  be  our 
guides;  they  prove  that  the  thing  needful  is  not  so  much  a 
strict  penal  system  for  the  punishment  of  offenders,  as  cura- 
tive measures  for  the  extirpation  of  defects  which,  under  the 
now  existing  social  conditions,  appear  as  criminal  tendencies, 
but  were  not  so  considered  in  past  ages;  defects  which  in- 
dicate, in  the  majority  of  cases,  arrested  or  impaired  develop- 
ment. 

In  one  sense,  crime  is  an  anomalous  condition — a  degenera- 
tion of  the  perfect  type;  a  disease  of  the  mind,  which  has  very 
distinct  symptoms  and  causes.  On  the  other  hand,  the  crim- 
inal class  represents  an  undeveloped  or  underdeveloped  type, 
one  that  has  not  kept  pace  wath  the  normal  evolution  of  the 
race — a  savage  condition  of  the  mind.  Criminals  of  this  class 
belong  to  a  social  stratum  which  has  never  been  reached  by 
the  progresss  of  civilization;  whose  psychic  development  had 
come  to  a  standstill  many  generations  ago,  or  who  are  con- 
tinually lagging  behind.  By  investigating  the  causes  of  these 
two  conditions — the  pathological  type  and  the  savage  type — 
we  shall  better  understand  the  real  nature  of  criminality. 

The  two  great  factors  that  determine  our  existence  are 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      301 

heredity  and  environment.  They  also  affect  our  moral  life. 
Environment  includes  all  those  elements  that  influence  us 
after  birth,  of  which  example  and  education  are  the  most 
powerful. 

There  is,  then,  first  the  criminal  by  heredity.  There  may 
either  be  a  direct  transmission  of  criminal  tendencies,  or 
merely  a  transmission  of  degenerative  traits  which  may  de- 
velop into  criminality  in  the  children,  even  tho  the  parents 
were  otherwise  defective. 

Little  doubt  is  entertained  at  present  that  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  criminal  neurosis,  i.  e.,  a  transmissible  constitutional 
condition  of  the  nervous  system  which  prevents  the  develop- 
ment of  a  wholesome  moral  sentiment,  of  will  power,  and 
of  self-control.  We  may  be  reminded  of  the  well  known 
Juke  family.  The  progeny  of  five  sisters  consisted  of  540 
individuals;  of  these,  76  per  cent,  were  criminals,  20  per 
cent,  paupers;  only  4  per  cent,  were  not  a  burden  to  society. 
Another  criminal  woman,  studied  by  Dr.  Elisha  Harris,  had 
623  descendants;  among  them  two  hundred  criminals,  the 
others  mostly  drunkards,  idiots,  paupers,  and  prostitutes. 
Up  to  1883,  of  all  the  girls  admitted  to  the  Michigan  In- 
dustrial Home  for  Girls,  one-seventh  had  insanity  in  their 
parentage;  one-third  had  criminality,  and  two-thirds  had 
intemperance  in  their  parentage.  This  shows  what  a  fatal 
role  intemperance  plays  in  the  production  of  criminal  neu- 
rosis, or  at  least  of  general  degeneration. 

G.  E.  Dawson,  in  his  valuable  study  of  youthful  degen- 
eracy,* arrives  at  this  conclusion:  "Crime,  insanity,  idiocy, 
pauperism.  .  .  .  happen  as  virtue,  health,  intelligence, 
and  prosperity  happen,  because  some  antecedent  conditions 
have  produced  them." 

There  is,  then,  a  criminal  class,  and  among  them,  there 
are  such  individuals  who  are  incurable  and  irredeemable,  from 
whom  the  dependent  and  criminal  classes  are  being  constantly 
recruited. 

Of  criminals  born  from  criminals  there  are  relatively  few. 
More  numerous  are  the  representatives  of  an  indirect  crim- 


*  Pedagogical  Seminary,  IV,  i,  p.  325. 


302      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

inal  heredity.  Thus  we  have  criminals  born  from  intem- 
perates,  paupers,  defectives  of  all  kinds.  Their  abnormality 
is  due  to  a  mind  inherited  by  them,  which  is  infested  with 
inherent  weakness,  containing  unstable  elements.  But  even 
these  unfortunates  are  not  in  many  cases  criminal  from  birth. 
Accessory  factors  are  needed  to  develop  in  them  true  crim- 
inality. In  other  words,  there  is  some  weakness  or  defect 
present  which  makes  these  individuals  less  effective  and  po- 
tentially criminal,  but  always  more  or  less  dependent. 

Intellectual  weakness  is  a  frequent  symptom  indicating 
also  moral  weakness,  and  it  has  been  observed  that  intellect- 
ually abnormal  children  incline  to  criminal  offenses.  Weak- 
ness of  the  mind  involves  an  insufficient  grasp  of  the  relation 
of  cause  and  effect — a  feeble  comprehension  of  consequences; 
it  marks  an  undeveloped,  animal  type.  Idiocy  has  been  called 
an  atavistic  backsliding  into  savagery — closely  related  to 
criminality,  i.  e.,  to  manifestations  which  in  reference  to  our 
state  of  civilization  appear  criminal,  while  they  were  per- 
fectly normal  at  the  savage  stage.  Investigations  have  es- 
tablished the  fact  that  idiocy  is  pre-eminently  a  hereditary 
phenomenon,  the  following  hereditary  causes  having  been 
pointed  out:  (i)  Neurosis  in  the  family  of  one  or  both  par- 
ents; (2)  Intemperance  in  the  family  of  one  or  both 
parents;  (3)  Excessive  strain  (by  physical  or  mental  labor, 
or  worry)  on  the  part  of  the  mothers ;  also  their  lack  of  prep- 
aration, physical,  mental  and  moral,  for  motherhood. 

The  point  mentioned  last  is  especially  significant  as  it  is 
only  too  often  disregarded.  M.  A.  Pinard*  testified  to  the 
greater  influence  of  the  mother  in  the  determination  of  the 
future  well-being  of  the  child.  Landor  says,  "Children  are 
what  their  mothers  are."  E.  W.  Bohannon,  in  his  investiga- 
tions of  peculiar  and  exceptional  children,*  comes  to  this 
conclusion :  "The  influence  of  the  mother  in  transmitting  pe- 
culiarities is  greater  than  that  of  the  father,  is  greater  for 
girls  than  for  boys,  and  about  equal  to  that  of  the  father  for 
boys."     The  mother  represents  the  conservative,  type-pre- 


*Pedagogical  Seminary,  IV,  i,  p.  50. 
•Pedagogical  Seminary,  IV,   i,  p.  3. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      303 

serving  element;  man  the  variable  element — for  better  or 
for  worse — in  the  reproductive  process.  But  how  often  is 
not  a  girl's  preparation  and  fitness  for  motherhood  problemat- 
ical ;  how  often  is  not  her  body  debilitated  by  overwork  or 
overstimulation  of  some  kind,  her  nervous  system  depleted, 
her  mind  superficial  and  frivolous — how  often  is  not  the 
lot  of  woman,  especially  in  the  poorer  classes,  that  of  a 
drudge  who  almost  succumbs  under  the  pressure  of  her  man- 
ifold burdens  and  duties.  This  wretched  condition  is  re- 
sponsible for  much  of  the  idiocy,  or  at  least  some  sort  of  de- 
ficiency, observable  in  the  offspring. 

Researches  based  upon  data  on  a  large  number  of  children 
possessing  peculiar  traits  have  shown  beyond  doubt  that  phy- 
sical, moral,  and  mental  deficiencies  are  intimately  related 
to  one  another,  being  largely  due  to  causes  and  influences 
which  date  back  into  remote  family  history.  For,  as  is  well 
known,  it  is  not  always  our  immediate  progenitors  from 
whom  we  inherit  our  peculiarities;  the  life-germ  of  an  in- 
dividual is  a  compendium  of  his  family  tree  with  all  its 
branches;  it  contains  potential  energy  in  manifold  compo- 
sition and  varying  proportions  of  all  the  different  elements 
which  have  been  transmitted  to  our  time  from  our  ancestors. 
Indeed,  we  recapitulate,  in  a  certain  abbreviated  form,  dur- 
ing the  years  of  embryonal  life  and  childhood,  our  entire 
family  history,  from  the  dawn  of  human  existence,  in  con- 
secutive culture-epochs;  and  in  the  same  measure  as  the 
younger  years  reproduce  the  earliest  stages  of  human  civil- 
ization, we  pass  consecutively  thru  stages  of  greater  dif- 
ferentiation— race,  nation,  kin, — and  at  the  age  of  puberty, 
the  family  traits  proper  will  assert  themselves  with  especial 
vigor.  It  is  not  a  rare  occurrence  that  at  this  stage,  all  of 
a  sudden  as  it  may  seem,  new  characteristic  traits  will  crop 
out,  an  inheritance  from  this  or  that  ancestor,  probably  long 
forgotten,  and  which  may  modify  very  materially  the  na- 
ture and  course  of  the  child.  In  consequence  of  such  a  con- 
stitutional revolution,  we  may  then  observe  the  unexpected 
appearance  of  an  ancestral  neurosis,  i.  e.,  of  a  defect  based 
upon  an  inherited  weakness  which  only  now  reveals  itself 
and  which  may  eventually  lead  to  crime. 


304      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

While  we  are,  to  a  certain  extent,  helpless  in  dealing  with 
the  effects  of  a  decidedly  criminal  heredity,  a  consideration 
of  the  factor  of  environment  presents  a  much  more  hopeful 
case.  And  yet,  as  things  are,  it  is  a  chapter  of  intense  human 
misery  and  wretchedness  which  we  now  enter  upon  and  which 
must  be  studied  with  the  most  serious  attention. 

In  reviewing  the  life  conditions  of  children  who  develop 
criminal  tendencies,  we  find,  as  was  stated  in  the  beginning, 
that  the  dependent  classes  are  the  main  source  of  crime. 
Even  if  children  should  escape  the  burden  of  hereditary  in- 
fluences, there  are  factors  in  their  environment  which  tend 
to  affect  their  development  abnormally.  Evidently  we  must 
admit  that  criminality  is  in  a  large  measure  the  product  of 
social  conditions. 

Dr.  Bayard  Holmes*  says:  "The  greater  portion  of  our 
defective  classes  acquire  their  defects  after  birth,  either 
thru  (i)  improper  environment,  (2)  thru  disease,  (3) 
thru  the  machinery  of  society  and  industry."  One  who 
knows  the  wretchedness  of  life  conditions  which  are  the 
portion  of  so  many  thousands  of  our  fellowmen  will  under- 
stand and  appreciate  this  assertion.  Dawson,  in  his  study  of 
youthful  degenerates,  quoted  above,  says:  "Nearly  58  per 
cent,  of  the  boys  and  46  per  cent,  of  the  girls  come  from  poor 
homes,  that  is  to  say  homes  in  which  poverty  and  drunkenness 
were  the  rule.  Twenty-three  per  cent,  of  the  boys  and  30  per 
cent,  of  the  girls  appear  to  have  had  no  regular  home  at  all. 
They  either  were  inmates  of  public  or  private  institutions  or 
they  were  practically  vagrants.  The  most  of  the  cases  had 
poor  educational  advantages,  either  because  of  parental  or 
social  neglect.  Practically  all  of  them  had  bad  associates,  and 
were  allowed  to  run  the  streets  in  idleness."  The  average 
industrial  or  reform  school  does  not  seem  to  have  a  good 
showing  in  these  figures.  Dawson  continues:  "The  first  ele- 
ments to  be  noticed  in  the  early  surroundings  of  these  delin- 
quent children  are  the  poverty  and  improvidence  of  the  par- 
ents. These  things  mean  improper  and  insufficient  food  in 
infancy  and  childhood.     .     .     .     If  the  children  of  immoral 


♦Child  Study  Monthly,  October,   1895. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      305 

and  improvident  parents  suffer  from  semi-starvation  phjrsi- 
cally,  much  more  do  they  suffer  from  intellectual  starvation. 
Mental  grovvrth  is  not  favored  by  conditions  that  constantly 
tend  to  impair  physical  vitality,  by  irregular  attendance  at 
school,  or  by  general  parental  or  social  neglect  to  supply  in- 
centive and  stimulus.  As  regards  morality,  the  disadvantages 
of  bad  environments  are  equally  obvious.  Whether  moral 
sensitiveness  be  regarded  as  innate  or  as  a  development  like 
any  other  quality  of  mind,  it  depends  for  its  fullest  and  best 
expression  upon  circumstances.  In  the  language  of  Strahan, 
'As  surely  as  the  blush  of  health  fades  before  starvation  and 
disease,  so  does  moral  loveliness  fade  in  the  presence  of  vice 
and  degradation.'  A  man  of  large  experience  in  dealing  with 
delinquents  recently  said  to  the  writer,  'Perhaps  there  are 
some  people  who  would  be  moral  under  any  drcumstances, 
and  others  who  would  be  immoral  under  any  circumstances; 
but  most  people  are  moral  or  immoral  as  circumstances  make 
them  so.'" 

Who  will  dare  to  refute  this  assertion  ?  "Judge  not,  that 
ye  be  not  judged!"  Who  will  ever  sound  the  human  heart 
to  its  deepest  depths?  Can  anyone  among  us  boast  of  never 
having  felt  the  promptings  of  evil?  He  that  is  without  sin 
among  us.  let  him  first  cast  a  stone  at  the  unhappy  creatures 
whose  childhood  was  a  curse  and  a  martyrdom,  and  who 
may  end  their  luckless  lives  in  a  prison  cell.  It  is  so  easy,  in 
a  cozy  home,  surrounded  by  love  and  care,  or  at  the  joyous 
feast  of  plenty,  to  forget  the  hungry  and  shivering  and  to  be 
hypocritically  scandalized  over  the  fallen. 

There  are  three  main  adversaries  of  virtue  that  are  con- 
stantly at  work  attacking  the  walls  of  righteousness  and 
breaking  down  its  ramparts,  so  that  crime  may  triumphantly 
enter  thru  the  gap;  (i)  insufficient  nutriment,  (2)  fatigue. 
(3)   disease. 

These  physical  causes  of  evil  are  often  the  effect  of  the  life 
conditions  of  the  unfortunate  classes;  but  they  are  also  not 
infrequent  guests  In  the  homes  of  the  well-to-do. 

Proper  nutrition  Is  a  much  more  essential  factor  In  the 
well-being  of  children  (no  less  than  of  adults)  than  most  peo- 
ple suppose.  The  preacher  in  the  pulpit,  the  teacher  In  the 
school,  have  no  surer  determinative  influence  upon  the  ethlc^ 


3o6      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

development  of  our  national  life  than  has  the  cook  in  the 
kitchen.  And  yet  the  "new  woman"  fancies  household  duties 
to  be  beneath  her  dignity  and  just  about  good  enough  for 
menials  and  slaves.  The  hearth  was  sacred  to  our  ancestors ; 
it  ought  to  remain  a  sacred  place  in  every  home  to  our  chil- 
dren and  children's  children.  Not  only  is  a  man's  heart  most 
safely  reached  thru  his  stomach,  as  the  saying  has  it,  but 
the  welfare,  the  mental  and  moral  salvation  of  the  children, 
of  the  generations  to  come,  depends  very  largely  upon  rational 
nutrition.  The  French  physician,  Dr.  F.  Hallager,  in  "De 
la  Nature  de  I'Epilepsie,"  maintains  that  epilepsy  is  anaemia 
and  that  lack  of  nutrition  is  a  potent  irritation.  The  capacity 
for  normal  mental  work  is  determined  in  a  large  measure 
by  the  character  and  quantity  of  food.  There  is  certainly 
much  malnutrition  in  the  homes  of  the  poor.  Poverty  is  only 
one  cause  among  others  of  this  deplorable  condition;  igno- 
rance and  improvidence  do  the  rest. 

But,  as  Prof.  M.  V.  O'Shea  says:  "It  happens  frequently 
in  the  homes  of  the  well-to-do,  where  the  expense  can  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  matter,  that  the  children  are  permitted 
to  live  almost  wholly  upon  those  foods  which  seem  to  delight 
the  palate,  as  cookies  and  cakes  in  a  variety  of  forms,  but 
which  contain  relatively  little  nutrition,  the  principal  in- 
gredient being  starch  in  the  form  of  wheat  flour.  It  is  often 
the  practice  to  begin  in  the  early  months  of  a  child's  life  to 
feed  it  highly  seasoned  and  sweet  foods,  thus  establishing  an 
appetite  which  later  is  not  satisfied  with  the  simple  nourishing 
meats,  grains,  or  milk.  .  .  .  Albumin  is  brain  food.  .  .  . 
In  the  poorer  homes,  in  our  cities  particularly,  many  are 
unwise  in  the  expenditure  of  what  money  they  can  spa'-e  for 
food,  purchasing  mainly  starchy  foods,  which,  altho  of 
relatively  little  value  anyway,  are  yet  more  suited  for  the 
adult  engaged  in  out-of-door  labor,  than  for  a  child  at  mental 
work  in  school."* 

It  needs  to  be  emphasized  that  it  is  not  advisable  to  give 
children  the  same  fare  as  the  adult.    The  needs  of  children 


♦"When  Character  is  Formed."     Appleton's   Popular  Science 
Monthly,  Sept.,  '97- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      307 

are  essentially  different  from  those  of  their  parents.  Here  is 
a  fruitful  field  of  study  for  the  conscientious  mother,  much 
more  important  and  momentous  than  the  study  of  Greek  in 
"ladies'  colleges."  It  is  a  study,  too,  requiring  a  high  degree 
of  common  sense,  science,  and  art.  What  is  needed  is  not  the 
filling  of  the  stomach  with  an  indifferent  mass  of  palatable 
dainties,  but  the  provision  of  really  nourishing  substances 
such  as  are  needed  to  build  up  the  tissues  consumed  by  the  life 
process  in  the  various  activities  pertaining  to  human  exist- 
ence and  development.  Insufficient  nutrition,  while  interfer- 
ring  seriously  with  normal  mental  activity,  also  produces 
moral  defects.  "That  imperfect  nutrition  is  the  cause  of 
much  of  that  emotional  estrangement  in  childhood  which  is 
called  irritability,  ugliness,  viciousness,  or  something  of  that 
sort,  has  been  satisfactorily  evidenced  to  the  writer  as  the 
result  of  a  number  of  observations  which  he  has  been  able  to 
make  upon  young  children."* 

These  morbid  symptoms  disappear  as  soon  as  rational  nu- 
trition is  provided. 

The  pitiful  conditions  which  are  the  lot  of  the  pariahs  of 
society,  which  prevail  among  the  children  who  work  in 
factories  and  coal  mines,  in  shops  and  stores,  as  newsboys  or 
bootblacks, — who  suffer  from  chronic  fatigue  and  overwork 
— are  well  enough  known.  Fatigue  is  caused  by  a  variety 
of  causes,  among  which,  indeed,  malnutrition  must  again  be 
enumerated,  so  that  this  first  mentioned  enemy  of  virtue  is 
doubly  dangerous.  There  are,  however,  a  number  of  other 
hygienic  causes  active  at  home,  in  school,  wherever  we  are: 
lack  of  the  proper  amount  of  light  and  air,  of  order  and 
cleanliness,  of  warmth  and  comfort,  of  rest  and  recreation, 
as  well  as  of  moderate  diversion  and  amusement:  and,  fur- 
thermore, those  numerous  overstimulations  of  overtaxa- 
tions which  are  characteristic  of  the  modern  rush  and  bustle 
of  life,  even  in  the  so-called  "best"  classes — in  the  salons  and 
academies,  at  theatres,  restaurants,  and  ball-rooms,  and  in 
a  thousand  ways.  Many  children,  from  whatever  cause, 
are  really  in  a  more  or  less  chronic  state  of  fatigue  all  or 

♦O'Shea,  loc.  cit 


3o8      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

most  of  the  time,  and  there  are  not  a  few  adults,  too,  who 
can  keep  themselves  on  their  feet  in  the  mad  rush  of  busi- 
ness or  professional  duties,  only  by  resorting  to  artificial  stim- 
ulation. None  of  these  are  normal,  and  of  "tonics"  there 
are  untold  numbers.  Fatigue,  it  has  been  shown,  produces  a 
relapse  into  the  animal  method  of  reasoning,  or  rather  non- 
reasoning;  it  interferes  with  the  keenness  and  integrity  of 
the  intellectual  processes;  the  memory  becomes  halting  and 
uncertain,  and  reason  grows  illogical  and  erratic. 

As  pointed  out  before,  fatigue  is  often  the  result  of  over- 
stimulation. Such  overstimulation  begins  not  infrequently 
in  the  nursery,  when  mothers  are  ignorant  of  the  simplest  laws 
of  nursery  hygiene.  "Infants  of  a  few  months  as  well  as 
children  of  maturer  years  are  permitted  to  be  in  the  presence 
of  the  older  members  of  the  family  much  of  the  time.  Guests 
always  expect  to  see  the  baby,  to  hold  it  and  to  stimulate  it 
in  all  sorts  of  ways  to  see  how  prettily  and  intelligently  it 
reacts.  .  .  .  Few  people  seem  to  appreciate  how  such 
treatment  taxes  the  nervous  strength  of  an  infant.  .  .  . 
The  young  child  with  its  fresh,  innocent  ways,  is  not  infre- 
quently regarded  as  a  plaything  for  the  entertainment  of  its 
elders,  and  so  is  teased  and  tormented  in  all  sorts  of  ways 
because  its  response  is  so  novel  and  interesting.  . 
The  evil  effects  of  overstimulation  are  evident  also  in  the  at- 
tempts of  parents  and  teachers  to  hasten  as  rapidly  as  possible 
the  intellectual  development  of  the  children  under  their 
care.  * 

Many  parents  consider  it  perfectly  legitimate  to  make 
the  children  recite,  sing,  and  perform  on  the  slightest  pro- 
vocation for  the  friends  and  visitors  of  the  family,  or  to  "show 
off"  at  more  or  less  public  entertainments,  without  special 
care  that  pedagogical  and  hygienic  precautions  be  not  neg- 
lected. It  is  a  common  practice,  too,  especially  among  the 
poorer  classes,  to  take  young  children  to  various  public 
places  and  make  them  stay  up  late,  and  go  home,  or  be  car- 
ried home,  in  a  more  or  less  sleepy  condition,  at  dead  of 
night,  in  crowded  and  ill-ventilated  public  conveyances.  Few 

*0'Shea,  loc.  cit 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      309 

mothers  consider  it  their  solemn  duty  rather  to  forego  for  a 
time  such  amusements  than  to  expose  their  tender  babes  to 
the  evil  effects  of  such  educational  and  hygienic  transgres- 
sions. The  consequences,  common  as  they  are,  are  pitiably 
serious. 

During  the  various  critical  periods  of  the  child's  life,  of 
vv^hich  there  are  at  least  three,  hygienic  neglect  and  over- 
stimulation are  fraught  with  particular  danger.  This  is 
especially  true  of  the  period  of  pubescence  and  adolescence. 
Physical  neglect,  caused  by  ignorance  and  false  modesty,  is 
apt  to  breed  untold  sufferings,  to  impair  the  equilibrium  of 
the  nervous  system,  and  health  and  strength  generally,  and 
to  result  finally  in  the  ruin  of  thousands  of  constitutions, 
particularly  of  girls.  Again,  impairment  of  health  predis- 
poses for  all  kinds  of  deviations  from  the  code  of  morals. 
Concerning  the  hygiene  of  the  pubertal  period,  much  enlight- 
enment is  still  needed.  Adolescence  is  an  epoch  in  the  life 
of  every  young  person  that  requires  the  most  careful  and  in- 
telligent treatment ;  it  is  a  time  when  old  and  narrow  modes 
of  thought  are  broken  up  and  old  ideas  are  being  revised; 
when  the  flexibility  of  the  mind,  resulting  from  a  peculiar  de- 
velopment of  the  brain  occurring  at  this  time,  promotes  the 
formations  of  new  associations  and  ideals.  Out  of  the  ruins 
of  unconscious  childhood,  there  rises  the  new  personality,  the 
consciousness  of  independent  thought  and  power.  The  ripe 
fruit  severs  itself  from  the  parent  tree  and  begins  its  indi- 
vidual life.  This  process  is  often  painful;  it  may  cause 
friction  and  unhappiness  for  both  parent  and  child,  and 
sometimes  leads  to  an  outspoken  rebellion  against  once  re- 
spected and  revered  authority  and  order.  From  the  chaos 
of  contending  emotions,  there  emerges  an  individual  charac- 
ter. This  is  the  age  when  the  young  man  (or  woman)  be- 
comes aware  of  the  tremendous  variety  of  life  possibilities — 
when  he  tries  many  of  these,  and  finally  chooses  those  that 
fit  his  individuality  best;  and  these  will  become  his  perma- 
nent possessions  and  activities.  In  this  confusion  of  ideas 
and  inspirations,  the  straight  and  even  path  is  sometimes 
lost  sight  of,  and  there  appear  symptoms  of  seeming  moral 
trespasses   which,    tho   not   always   of    a   very   serious   im- 


3IO      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

port,  nevertheless  require  the  strictest  attention  of  the  edu- 
cator. Truth  and  falsehood  are  at  times  confused  in  these 
young  struggling  souls;  especially  young  girls  of  this  age 
are  frequently  given  to  untruthfulness  and  prevarication 
without  apparent  cause  or  reason.  Even  in  otherwise  per- 
fectly normal  children  of  this  age,  we  may  come  across  dis- 
tinctly criminal  tendencies.  Says  Tolstoi  in  his  autobiogra- 
phy: "I  have  read  somewhere  that  children  between  twelve 
and  fourteen  years  of  age  are  especially  apt  to  become  mur- 
derers and  incendiaries.  When  I  recall  my  own  adoles- 
cence (and  the  state  of  mind  I  was  in  one  day),  I  can  under- 
stand the  incentive  to  the  most  dreadful  crimes  committed 
without  aim  or  purpose,  without  any  precise  idea  to  harm 
others — done  simply  out  of  curiosity,  out  of  an  unconscious 
need  of  action."  And  E.  G.  Lancaster  states  in  his  valua- 
ble treatise  on  'The  Psychology  and  Pedagogy  of  Adoles- 
cence"*: "On  the  moral  side  there  is  a  new  and  tremendous 
access  of  possibilities.  The  young  person  awakens  to  the 
fact  that  he  can  commit  crimes  of  which  he  never  dreamed 
before.  There  are  numerous  expressions  of  intense  sur- 
prise at  the  awful  thoughts  of  crime  that  go  rushing  thru 
the  mind  at  this  time." 

We  tremble,  in  reading  these  statements,  to  picture  to 
ourselves  what  the  consequences  would  be  if  from  some 
cause,  the  mental  and  moral  development  of  adolescents, 
passing  thru  this  stage,  were  checked,  especially  in  the 
absence  of  educational  advantages  which  could  act  as  a  cor- 
rective, so  that  this  condition  of  their  minds  would  become 
the  permanent  one  thru  life.  Such  things  do  occur — 
more  frequently,  indeed,  than  one  cares  to  believe;  and  it 
is  probably  due  to  some  form  of  arrested  development  dur- 
ing the  pubertal  age,  or  to  some  unchecked  impulse  to  realize 
in  action  the  demoniac  promptings  of  adolescent  fancy,  that 
we  have  so  large  a  percentage  of  criminals  of  adolescent  age. 
Of  7,473  prisoners  in  France  in  1885,  under  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  there  were  4,718  boys  and  1,063  girls,  or  a 
total  of  5,781   (77.36  per  cent.)  of  children  of  from  twelve 


♦Pedagogical  Seminary,  V,  i. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      311 

to  eighteen  years  of  age.  Out  of  26,000  evildoers  arrested 
in  Paris  in  one  year,  16,000  were  less  than  twenty  years  of 
age.* 

Fatigue  is  in  the  last  instance  a  pathological  phenomenon, 
and  is  often  caused  by  disease,  or  will  in  its  turn  produce  dis- 
eased conditions.  Impaired  health,  as  has  been  shown  in  the 
preceding  paragraphs,  is  responsible  for  many  abnormal  symp- 
toms in  the  life  of  the  soul,  and  modem  child  study  has  col- 
lected a  great  number  of  surprising  data.  Selfishness,  for 
example,  a  common  fault  in  children — and  parents, — and 
which  is  a  very  evident  stimulus  for  criminal  tendencies,  is  in 
many  instances  occasioned  by  ill  health,  and  will  disappear  as 
soon  as  a  normal  physical  equilibrium  is  re-established. 

Certain  diseases  leave  the  body  in  a  depleted  and  weakened 
condition  of  a  very  specific  kind  and  which  is  the  source  of 
much  intellectual  and  moral  anomaly.  Reference  is  here 
made  to  disorders  of  the  visual  and  auditory  centers.  The 
percentage  of  children  whose  vision  is  abnormal  or  whose 
sense  of  hearing  is  more  or  less  impaired,  is  surprisingly  high. 
Upon  perfect  sense  training,  however,  depends  the  possibility 
of  reliable  observation  and  conception;  and  thus  it  becomes 
very  plain  that  sense  impediments  must  necessarily  interfere 
with  the  normal  intellectual  development  of  the  children. 
Soon  we  may  observe  graver  disturbances — apparent  indif- 
ference, disobedience,  laziness,  and  a  number  of  other  seem- 
ingly moral  defects.*  If  not  speedily  recognized,  diagnosed, 
and  cured,  such  phenomena  may  indeed  lead  to  truly  moral 
inefficiency.  Helot  shows  that  when  these  cases  are  cured,  a 
large  number  of  children  are  transformed,  so  to  speak,  both 
from  a  physical  and  a  moral  standpoint.  Yet  about  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  of  all  children  suffer  from  defects  of  hearing, 
adenoid  vegetations  and  the  like  alone.  What  a  field  for 
exact  observation  and  curative  measures! 

That  these  troubles  are  so  wide-spread,  is  largely  due  to 
the  almost  criminal  negligence  with  which  even  in  educated 


*A.  Corre,  "Crime  and  Suicide." 

*Cf.  "A  Working  System  of  Child  Study  for  Schools,"  Grosz- 
mann,  p.  32. 


312      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

families  infectious  diseases  are  handled,  such  as  measles, 
scarlet  fever,  etc.,  which  often  leave  these  defects  behind, 
tho  the  attack  itself  may  have  been  mild.  It  requires  the 
greatest  amount  of  energy  on  the  part  of  school  and  health 
authorities  to  guard  against  the  spread  of  infection  among  the 
pupils  of  schools,  in  places  of  public  amusement  or  meeting, 
in  street  cars  and  railroads,  etc.  Few  care  to  be  restricted  in 
their  personal  liberty,  and  the  danger  of  infection  and  the 
spread  of  disease  germs  is  usually  underrated.  All  these  fac- 
tors, nevertheless,  contribute  to  keeping  the  general  health  of 
the  community  on  a  low  level,  and  to  thus  making  possible  a 
more  or  less  universal,  intellectual  and  moral  inefficiency. 

Besides  these  more  or  less  physical  elements  which  influ- 
ence the  child  after  birth,  and  aid  in  the  determination  of  its 
future,  we  must  consider  the  educational  effect  of  the  en- 
vironment. Educational  effect  is  really  caused  by  everything 
that  surrounds  the  child ;  and  it  is  by  example  that  the  most 
powerful  impressions  are  produced:  the  example  of  the  per- 
sons who  constitute  his  immediate  society,  no  more  than  the 
example  of  the  street  where  he  spends  the  plastic  years  of  his 
childhood ;  the  example  of  parents,  teachers,  brothers,  sisters, 
and  schoolmates,  of  relatives  and  friends;  the  example  of  the 
milkman  and  the  scrubbing  woman,  of  the  cook  and  the  rail- 
road conductor;  the  example  of  the  pictures  which  beautify 
his  home,  and  that  of  the  glaring  posters  which  advertise 
theatrical  performances  or  patent  medicines;  the  example  of 
the  books  and  newspapers  which  are  tolerated  or  cherished  in 
the  home,  as  well  as  of  those  which  find  an  illegitimate  way 
into  his  hands  and  interest.  Even  a  very  essential  portion  of 
the  direct  training  at  home  and  in  school  is  a  matter  of  ex- 
ample :  the  child  is  made  to  imitate  what  his  elders  do.  The 
first  potent  factor  in  education  is  the  imitativeness  of  children. 
Children  possess  surprisingly  little  logic;  rationality  and 
really  independent  opinions  are  the  result  of  long  experience 
and  a  vigorous  adolescence.  Imitation  is  one  of  the  great 
means  by  which  experience  is  obtained.  Thus  is  shown  the 
tremendous  responsibility  of  parents  and  teachers,  whose  ex- 
ample rather  than  precept  will  work  its  way  determinatively 
into  die  child's  soul.    The  trouble  is,  that  the  child  is  apt  to 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      313 

imitate  what  is  pernicious  as  well  as  what  is  beneficial,  being 
yet  unable  to  discriminate.  "Folly  is  always  infectious;  epi- 
demics of  good  sense  are  rare,"  says  a  German  humorist.  If 
we  could  only  place  our  children  in  an  environment  where  all 
examples  make  for  righteousness!  The  millenium  would 
then  not  be  far  away.  But  alas!  we  live  in  a  world  where 
deceit  and  duplicity  have  the  upper  hand;  where  public  and 
private  administration  and  business  are  based  largely  upon 
falsehood ;  where  conventional  lies  mar  even  the  sacred  integ- 
rity of  the  home.  How  few  of  us  are  really  frank  toward  one 
another! 

And  in  such  an  atmosphere  our  children  are  brought  up. 
We  preach  to  them  a  sincerity  and  charity  which  we  do  not 
always  practice.  Dare  we  wonder  when  the  carelessly  scat- 
tered seed  of  evil  takes  root  and  sprouts  forth  in  many  an  un- 
wary young  soul? 

That  children  are  imitative  is  a  trite  fact.  And  yet,  few 
of  us  realize  how  very  imitative  they  are.  Wondrous  talcs 
may  be  told  of  the  so-called  suggestibility  of  childhood.  We 
may  be  reminded  of  the  influence  of  companions  and  chums, 
which  is  often  much  greater  than  that  of  the  parent  and 
teacher.  Dawson,  in  his  study  of  youthful  degeneracy,  quoted 
before,  found  that  in  the  case  of  every  boy  and  almost  every 
girl,  some  chum,  or  several  chums,  had  played  a  more  or  less 
important  part  in  their  lives. 

How  necessary,  then,  is  a  careful  supervision  and  guidance 
of  our  children — how  essential  it  is  that  we  eliminate  from 
their  environment  as  much  of  bad  example  as  we  can  control, 
even  tho  it  be  at  the  sacrifice  of  our  own  convenience! 

The  problem  of  right  education,  so  that  the  product  be 
an  ethical  character,  is  truly  a  difficult  one.  Much  of  urgent 
import  can  be  said  on  this  score.  Our  present  so-called  ed- 
ucational system  deserves  this  name  only  in  a  very  modest 
measure.  It  stimulates  the  intellect  at  the  expense  of  char- 
acter; it  develops  shrewdness  rather  than  wisdom.  It  im- 
plies more  drill  than  development;  it  grafts  upon  the  real 
nature  of  the  child  an  artificial,  conventional  substance.  Of- 
ten it  conflicts  with  the  most  fundamental  instincts,  and 
thus  causes  an  instability  of  character,  a  vacillation  of  will 


314      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

impulses,  such  as  will  become  sadly  manifest  in  moments  of 
trial  and  temptation.  Much  in  our  present  education  is  arti- 
ficial, mechanical,  arbitrary;  and  its  product  is  only  too  fre- 
quently a  living,  conventional  lie. 

Thus  we  have  a  society  wherein  many  factors  co-operate 
to  intercept  the  healthy  growth  of  virtue,  and  to  favor  the 
development  of  moral  defects  and  criminal  tendencies. 

2.      AS  TO  REMEDIES 

The  case  being  thus  stated,  the  question  arises:  What 
can  be  done  to  remedy  the  evil,  to  eradicate  crime  if  this  be 
at  all  possible?  Space  will  permit  of  only  a  few  suggestions, 
such  as  are  obvious  from  what  has  been  said  before. 

We  ought  to  be  settled  in  our  mind  about  one  sad  fact,  to 
begin  with,  viz.  that  there  exists  such  a  thing  as  a  criminal 
class  many  members  of  which  are  practically  unredeemable, 
and  which  a  healthy  society  casts  out  as  it  casts  out  lepers, 
without,  however,  being  justified  in  condemning  them.  The 
Italian  criminologist  and  psychologist  Lombroso  has  intro- 
duced the  term  "born  criminals."  A  majority  of  imbeciles 
will  forever  remain  public  burdens,  and  a  certain  percentage, 
small  but  distinct,  will  never  outgrow  criminal  tendencies. 

We  may  apply  to  this  psychic  phenomenon  the  general 
term  "degeneration,"  remembering  that  we  include  two  dis- 
tinct types  under  this  term:  the  pathological  type,  and  the 
savage  type.  Degeneration  signifies  a  deviation  from  the 
normal  type  as  it  has  been  evolved  thru  the  centuries  of  civ- 
ilizatory  progress  and  differentiation;  such  deviation  natur- 
ally implies  a  lesser  degree  of  stability  and  power  of  pro- 
creation. It  means  the  loss  of  those  hereditary  qualities  that 
have  differentiated  and  fixed  the  characteristics  of  the  race 
so  that  it  attained  permanency;  and  consequently  a  decreased 
capability  of  competition  in  the  normal  struggle  for  existence. 
Indeed,  the  unredeemably  deficient  would  die  out  but  for 
intermarriage  with  individuals  of  a  more  normal  type,  as 
sterility  is  a  recognized  effect  of  inherited  deficiency. 

This  suggests  the  desirability  of  a  timely  recognition,  man- 
agement and  isolation  of  the  unredeemable  by  the  agency  of 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      315 

organized  society.  Isolation,  however,  must  not  be  under- 
stood to  mean  punishment  in  this  case  any  more  than  it  is 
in  the  case  of  people  suffering  from  infectious  diseases.  We 
may  insist  upon  small-pox  patients  being  isolated  in  special 
hospitals  without  desiring  to  brand  the  unfortunate  inmates 
as  outcasts,  or  connecting  the  idea  of  punishment  with  their 
confinement.  The  time  will  come,  let  us  sincerely  hope, 
when  sin  will  be  understood  to  mean  misfortune;  when 
moral  defects  will  be  treated  like  intellectual  and  physical 
defects:  that  is  to  say,  as  pathological  cases,  symptomatically, 
and  not  as  punishable  crimes.  Our  penal  system  is  sadly  in 
need  of  reform  on  the  basis  of  psychological  and  anthropolog- 
ical science.  All  these  problems  are  in  their  very  essence 
pathological,  or  in  another  sense,  educational  problems.* 

It  is  almost  needless  to  say  that  even  apart  from  the  de- 
mand of  isolation,  there  ought  certainly  to  be  special  schools, 
or  at  any  rate,  special  classes,  established  for  the  education 
of  children  who  are  in  any  marked  degree  deficient.  To  lay 
the  burden  of  their  education  upon  the  ordinary  schools,  is 
a  grave  error.  Not  only  do  they  constitute  an  ever  present 
danger  of  infection  and  contagion  for  the  healthy  children; 
but  their  own  peculiar  needs  can  be  best  attended  to  where 
all  educational  efforts  are  adjusted  to  that  end.  We  ought 
to  save  as  many  as  can  be  saved. 

There  is  another  side  to  this.  Bohannon  (loc.  cit.)  shows 
that  advantageous  traits  are  inherited  more  than  twice  as 
frequently  as  disadvantageous  ones.  This  indicates  greater 
vitality  on  the  part  of  those  who  are  in  greater  conformity 
with  the  fixed  type  of  civilization.  It  points  on  the  one 
hand  to  the  fact  of  a  natural  weeding  out  of  degenerates, 
as  shown  before;  on  the  other  hand  to  the  great  blessing  of 
the  influence  of  better  environment  and  education.  Bohan- 
non proves  that  less  and  less  deficient  children  may  be  ob- 
served to  be  bom  in  a  family  of  degenerates  as  the  biological 
conditions  of  the  parents  improve.  He  calls  this  the  tri- 
umph of  environment  over  heredity. 


*Cf.   also  LaMettrie,  "L'Homme-Machine",  published   1748. 


3i6      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

The  change  at  adolescence  may  also  join  in  as  a  helpful 
factor,  viz.  when  good,  e.  g.,  race-preserving  hereditary  traits 
should  happen  to  crop  out  at  this  period  so  as  to  defeat  the 
degenerative  eflFect  of  the  bad,  and  of  the  environment.  This 
possibility  may  explain  some  seemingly  miraculous  regenera- 
tions. 

But  the  problem  under  discussion  is  only  one  part  of  the 
great  social  problem  of  elevating  the  masses.  The  creation 
of  healthy  social  conditions  will  go  a  great  way  towards  the 
elimination  of  crime.  For  the  sake  of  illustration  of  at  least 
one  factor  in  this  process,  I  will  quote  from  a  very  sugges- 
tive report  of  Mr.  Jacob  A.  Riis  on  the  first  public  play- 
ground instituted  in  the  slum  districts  of  New  York  City. 
"It  may  have  been  a  coincidence  that  the  rough  gang  of 
boys  which  used  to  disgrace  that  block  on  Second  Ave.  and 
occasionally  did  much  mischief,  has  not  been  heard  from 
since  the  old  graveyard  became  a  playground.  It  is  a  fact, 
anyhow,  and  my  experience  with  Poverty  Gap  makes  me 
feel  quite  certain  that  there  is  a  connection  between  the 
two  things.  Over  there  it  used  to  be  next  to  impossible  to  go 
thru  the  block  without  being  pelted  with  mud  by  the  raga- 
muffins who  very  early  developed  into  toughs  of  a  peculiarly 
vicious  stamp.  They  half  killed  two  policemen,  and  out  of 
sheer  malice,  beat  to  death  the  one  boy  in  the  block  with  a 
good  reputation.  The  neighborhood  was  as  desolate  as  it-' 
was  desperate ;  but  when  the  wicked  old  tenements  were  torn 
down,  and  a  public  playground  was  opened  on  the  site  of 
them,  with  swings  and  sandheaps  and  wheelbarrows  and 
shovels,  the  whole  neighborhood  changed  as  if  by  magic. 
There  were  no  more  outrages." 

Here  is  a  wide  field  for  the  social  reformer  and  for  pro- 
gressive city  boards! 

Then  there  is  need  of  a  sj^tematic  fight  against  intemper- 
ance, the  great  evil;  but  care  must  be  taken  that  this  fight 
does  not  degenerate  into  ill-advised  fanaticism  and  immoder- 
ate infringements  of  personal  liberty  for  which  there  is  no 
scientific  basis  and  justification.  There  must  be  an  intelli- 
gent and  civilized  warfare,  such  as  will  remove  the  real  causes 
of  intemperance.    What  we  must  principally  fight  against  are 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD       317 

the  conditions  of  malnutrition  and  fatigue,  of  nervous  deple- 
tion and  degeneracy  which  will  produce  an  undue  craving  for 
stimulants. 

Malnutrition  and  fatigue  are  the  two  great  curses  of  suf- 
fering humankind.  Well  said  Ingersoll  in  his  lecture,  "What 
Must  We  Do  in  Order  to  be  Saved  ?" :  "I  believe  in  the  gos- 
pel of  good  health,  and  I  believe  in  the  gospel  of  good  living. 
.  .  .  Let  us  have  good  food,  and  let  us  have  it  well 
cooked ;  it  is  a  thousand  times  better  to  know  how  to  cook  it 
than  it  is  to  understand  any  theology  in  the  world". 

And  let  us  elevate  the  conditions  of  women.  The  woman's 
question  does  indeed  need  most  serious  attention.  The  over- 
burdened women  in  the  lower  and  middle  classes  ought  to 
have  their  share  of  the  higher  aspirations  of  life,  such  as  will 
lift  them  on  the  plane  of  modem  civilization.  The  problem 
of  how  to  relieve  woman  of  the  burden  of  home-duties  with- 
out destroying  home-life  and  atrophying  her  sacred  functions, 
is  a  very  difficult  one;  but  we  must  bend  our  energies  on  its 
solution  so  that  our  wives  may  preserve  that  precious  physi- 
cal strength  which  is  requisite  for  blissful  motherhood,  and  so 
that  they  may  have  time  and  energy  left  to  devote  themselves 
intelligently  to  their  prime  office,  the  education  of  our  chil- 
dren in  the  home.  Let  us  remember  the  wretched  conditions 
of  most  of  our  working  girls  from  whose  ranks  the  mothers 
of  the  poorer  classes  are  recruited.  Miserable  wages,  over- 
work, temptations  of  all  kinds  are  their  lot;  vain  and  un- 
wholesome amusements  relieve  their  cheerless  existence  only 
to  cast  a  peculiarly  dismal  light  upon  their  pitiless  situation. 
Only  too  true  is  what  Hall  Caine,  in  the  "The  Christian", 
makes  John  Storm  say  on  the  present  position  of  working 
women  upon  whose  well-being  so  much  of  society's  welfare 
rests. 

In  the  upper  classes  we  may  discover  a  high  degree  of  over- 
stimulation and  frivolity.  How  few  of  the  well-to-do  women 
of  to-day  are  capable  of  fully  living  up  to  the  functions  of 
motherhood,  or  are  willing  to  do  so.  Most  of  them  are  vic- 
tims of  fashion  and  "society."  Alone  the  irrational  dress  of 
women  is  responsible  for  many  defects  in  children  and  thus 
of  many  burdens  to  society.    During  adolescence,  when  girls 


3i8      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

(and  boys,  too)  need  the  most  careful  consideration  and  most 
hygienic  attention,  they  are  most  mercilessly  chained  down  to 
their  schooldesks,  to  pass  their  examinations,  to  graduate,  at 
the  risk  of  studying  to  exhaustion.  Such  is  the  decree  of 
vanity  and  morbid  ambition ;  so  will  it  tradition  and  fashion 
which  walks  without  remorse  over  thousands  of  ruined  con- 
stitutions. Let  us  not  forget :  the  problem  of  ethical  strength 
is  at  the  same  time  a  problem  of  physical  health,  of  normal 
nervous  activity. 

It  must  further  be  demanded  that  our  boys  and  girls 
should  be  educated  for  the  duties  of  parenthood.  Away  with 
that  Pharisaical  prudishness  which  prompts  us  to  ignore  the 
sexual  element  in  the  education  of  the  healthy  and  moral 
life,  a  prudishness  which  anyway  has  nothing  in  common 
with  genuine  purity,  but  which  causes  countless  sufferings. 
When  it  comes  to  marriage,  let  this  holy  union  be  based  upon 
love  rather  than  commercial  and  "society"  considerations; 
and  make  sure  that  the  biological  conditions,  the  transmissible 
factors,  in  the  contracting  parties  be  healthy  and  advanta- 
geous. Not  only  the  sins,  but  even  the  conventional  follies  of 
the  parents  are  visited  on  the  children  upon  the  third  and 
upon  the  fourth  generations. 

The  keynote  of  salvation  is  not  a  crusade  of  emotion,  but  a 
reform  of  public  and  private  education.  A  rational  education 
of  the  masses,  of  the  classes,  of  the  public,  of  the  individual, 
of  the  parents,  of  the  children.  What  we  need  is  a  new 
moral  conscience,  a  new  spirit  and  enthusiasm,  a  renewed 
sense  of  our  tremendous  responsibility.  "He  who  wrongs 
the  child,  commits  a  crime  against  the  state,"  says  John 
Storm  in  "The  Christian".  The  problem  of  popular  edu- 
cation is,  consequently,  one  of  the  most  serious  tasks  of  the 
state.  But  the  more  essential  portion  of  that  education  whose 
most  beautiful  fruit  is  an  ethical  character,  is  within  the 
domain  of  home-influences.  This  is  a  great  subject  which  here 
can  be  alluded  to  only  in  passing.  We  must  not  persuade 
ourselves,  by  the  way,  to  think  that  the  homes  of  the  so-called 
better  classes  offer  in  all  instances  a  wholesome  environment. 
Those  homes  where  father  and  mother  intelligently  co-oper- 
ate, are  unfortunately  quite  rare;  generally  one  will  destroy 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      319 

what  the  other  builds.  And  let  us  understand  that  nothing  is 
so  confusing  to  the  moral  standard  of  our  children ;  nothing 
will  more  piteously  and  effectively  destroy  their  simple  and 
natural  confidence  than  this  ruption  between  those  who  ought 
to  stand  before  their  children's  minds  as  ideals  if  not  of  per- 
fection, at  least  of  noble  aspiration  and  effort,  of  unity,  har- 
mony, and  love. 

And  which  are  the  "better"  classes?  The  wealthy?  But 
wealth,  as  a  result  of  success  in  business,  is  not  infrequently 
due  to  a  wide  and  elastic  conscience.  Can  we  measure  our 
commercial  system  with  a  rigorous  moral  standard?  It  has 
been  claimed  that  nowadays  no  business  can  be  successfully 
operated  without  systematic  lying.  This  may  be  an  exaggera- 
tion ;  but  the  assertion  is  not  so  very  wide  off  the  mark.  In 
the  homes  of  the  representatives  of  this  commercial  order, 
outwardly  refined  as  they  may  seem,  there  is  no  genuinely 
moral  atmosphere,  there  can  be  no  healthy  child-life. 

Even  where  wealth  is  the  result  of  thoroly  honest  ef- 
fort, this  effort  may  be  so  excessive,  an  effect  of  a  mad  com- 
petition, that  an  over-stimulation  and  a  depletion  of  the 
nervous  system  is  produced,  and  the  rush  of  business  may 
leave  the  unfortunate  millionaire  a  nervous  wreck.  Under 
the  circumstances,  children  may  on  the  outset  inherit  nervous 
defects,  and  their  development,  while  seemingly  normal  for  a 
time,  may  contain  the  germ  of  degeneration.  The  commer- 
cial spirit  which  rules  our  age,  does  not  offer  an  unqualifiedly 
healthy  environment  for  the  rising  generation.  At  best,  it 
imposes  upon  us  the  spurious  standard  of  outward  success  in 
the  place  of  the  ethical  standard  of  wisdom  and  moral  per- 
fection. 

'^ven  in  the  really  good  homes — and  fortunately  there  will 
ever  be  a  majority  of  these,  among  the  rich  and  poor — moral 
education  is  a  subtle,  difficult  task.  We  must  first  of  all 
study  and  understand  each  individual  child  in  order  to  de- 
velop him  along  his  own  individual  lines,, and  to  adjust  our 
measures  to  his  individual  needs.  No  more  fatal  error  can 
be  made  than  to  judge  him  from  the  standpoint  of  the  adult. 
Children  are  by  no  means  little  men  and  women  who  can 
think  and  feel  as  their  elders  do,  or  whose  standards  are  es- 


320      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

sentially  like  ours,  or  who  can  be  expected  to  appreciate  in 
every  instance  our  adult  standards  and  motives.  Children  are 
altogether  different  beings — they  represent  in  their  evolution 
from  infancy  to  manhood  and  womanhood  a  series  of  epochs 
which  correspond  broadly  to  the  periods  in  which  the  race  has 
gradually  emerged  from  barbarism  and  attained  civilization. 
If  this  development  is  in  any  way  interfered  with  or  arrested, 
they  may  remain  in  a  condition,  or  stage,  which  unfits  them 
for  the  normal  civilized  life,  and  which  will  eventually  give 
rise  to  abnormal  and,  perchance,  directly  criminal  tendencies. 

Children  of  school  age  are  not  moral  beings,  strictly  speak- 
ing; to  them,  few  things  are  in  themselves  either  right  or 
wrong.  Conscience  is  not  an  early  growth ;  it  is  the  outcome 
of  a  slow  process  of  maturing.  A  sane  mind  is  the  product 
of  rational  education.  Where  this  is  wanting,  the  mind 
remains  more  or  less  irrational.  Children  live  in  the  present 
— to  them,  the  future  is  only  a  dream  of  wild  possibilities; 
they  do  neither  understand,  nor  are  they  particularly  con- 
cerned in,  the  logical  consequences  of  their  actions.  This  is, 
indeed,  the  paradise  of  childhood:  the  age  of  inexperience. 
Let  us  not  unduly  hasten  their  development  lest  by  impa- 
tience or  indiscretion  we  destroy  precious  germs.  Yet  how 
often  do  we  not  make  the  attempt  to  fashion  child-nature  in 
accordance  with  our  own  foolish  notions;  how  ofteo  do 
we  not  misunderstand  our  children,  and  misinterpret  their 
motives — and  treat  them  as  sinners  when  they  were  but  chil- 
dren! 

Let  us  be  reminded  once  more  of  the  greatest  factor  in  the 
education  of  young  children:  their  imitativeness  and  suggesti- 
bility. It  has  been  seen  how  dangerous  is  the  unwholesome 
example.  We  must  fortify  our  children  against  the  evil  in- 
fluences of  spurious  suggestions,  by  developing  in  them  the 
art  of  independent  thinking.  "One  very  important  thing  for 
the  schools  to  teach  is  the  art  of  independent  thinking.  His- 
tory is  replete  with  the  records  of  delusions,  evil  scares, 
crazes,  and  stampedes,  and  one  who  reads  these  records  and 
sees  their  parallel  in  a  thousand  phenomena  of  every  day 
life,  cannot  help  wishing  for  some  process  in  education  that 
will  prepare  men  to  see  all  possible  aspects  of  a  thing,  enable 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      321 

them  to  play  a  sort  of  mental  solitaire  until  these  aspects  are 
classified,  and  make  them  self-reliant  enough  to  trust  to 
their  own  judgment  after  it  is  formed."  (M.  H.  Small, 
loc.  cit.) 

The  power  of  independent  thinking  will  enable  the  child 
early  to  distinguish  between  helpful  and  spurious  suggestions. 

We  must  also  endeavor  to  win  and  retain  our  child's  con- 
fidence so  that  he  may  in  each  and  every  case  come  to  us, 
and  to  us  alone,  with  his  troubles  and  problems  to  seek  ad- 
vice and  consolation.  By  converting  our  children  into  our 
friends,  and  making  their  friends  our  friends,  as  far  as  this 
is  reasonable,  there  will  be  established  a  unity  of  educational 
influence.  The  school-life  of  the  child  ought  to  be  but  a 
phase  of  his  home-life,  or  a  widening  of  the  home  circle.  But 
above  all,  let  us  surround  our  children  with  an  atmosphere 
of  noble  inspiration.  Let  us  make  the  home  a  place  where 
love  and  righteousness  reign  supreme.  Let  us  remember: 
good  examples  are  better  than  precepts.  Then  we  may  hope 
that  iniquity  will  gradually  disappear  from  this  world.  Let 
us  hope  that  IngersoU  was  right  when  he  said :  "I  believe  we 
are  growing  better.  I  don't  believe  the  wail  of  want  will  be 
heard  forever:  that  the  prison  and  the  gallows  will  always 
curse  the  ground.  The  time  will  come  when  liberty  and 
law  and  love,  like  the  rings  of  Saturn,  will  surround  the 
world;  when  the  world  will  cease  making  these  mistakes; 
when  every  man  will  be  judged  according  to  his  worth  and 
intelligence." 


CHAPTER  XX 

The  Meaning  of  High  School  Education  and  Secondary  Dif- 
ferentiation 

THERE  has  been  a  tendency  to  construct  school 
curricula  upon  a  retroactive  basis,  that  is  to  say, 
to  determine  the  courses  of  the  lower  schools  so 
as  to  make  them  directly  preparatory  for  en- 
trance into  the  higher.  Much  mischief  has 
been  done  in  this  way.  Not  only  has  there  been 
much  misconception  afloat  as  to  what  constitutes  an 
elementary  preparation  for  higher  courses;  but  the 
special  needs  of  the  successive  stages  of  child-develop- 
ment have  been  signally  disregarded.  We  should  turn 
the  order  around  and  say  not  that  the  ordinary  school 
should  adjust  itself  to  the  requirements  of  the  high  school, 
nor  the  high  school  ofFer  a  fitting  for  college,  but  that  the 
high  school  courses  must  adjust  themselves  to  what  a  rational 
elementary  course  has  done  for  the  child,  and  the  college 
must  adjust  its  requirements  to  the  possibilities  and  charac- 
teristics of  the  high  school  graduate.  Or  still  better,  we 
must  recognize  that  each  school  represents  a  distinct  stage 
of  mental  evolution,  and  ought  to  minister  to  the  needs  of 
the  growing  mind  at  each  stage. 

The  high  school  age  is  that  of  adolescence.  At  15,  the 
individual  is  bom,  and  a  new  awakening  takes  place  in  the 
mind  of  the  youth  and  maiden.  It  is  the  time  when  reasoning 
buds  forth,  altho  it  is  counterbalanced,  and  occasionally  al- 
most drowned,  by  a  tremendous  gushing  up  of  emotional 
elements.  The  individual  attitude  asserts  itself,  often  with 
a  force  so  antagonistic  to  the  transmitted,  conventional  moulds 

322 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      323 

of  family  and  general  environment  that  it  is  truly  startling. 
Out  of  the  many  possibilities  afforded  by  hereditary  and 
acquired  endowments,  there  takes  place  the  selection  of  a 
differentiated  activity,  commensurate  to  individual  charac- 
ter, and  which  will  make  the  individual  a  force  to  react 
upon  his  environment.  It  is  the  office  of  secondary  education, 
then,  to  handle  appropriately  the  material  it  is  to  work  with, 
to  develop  the  minds  of  our  youth  along  truly  rational  lines, 
to  allow  of  choice  as  well  as  to  provide  breadth  of  experi- 
ence in  order  to  avoid  a  premature  narrowing  down  to  one- 
sided notions  and  passing  fancies;  to  direct  the  heart  from 
the  crude  self-centered  emotions  which  well  up  at  this  period, 
to  those  ideals  which  point  to  the  race,  the  human  family  as 
such,  and  to  its  preservation  and  uplifting. 

"During  adolescence,  when  the  interests,  the  likes  and  dis- 
likes, the  enthusiasms  and  energies  are  very  intense  for  periods 
of  moderate  length,  it  seems  that  specialization  along  lines 
of  strong  interest  should,  by  all  means,  be  allowed  in  the 
high  schools,  and  possibly  in  the  last  grammar  grades,  in 
order  that  those  adolescent  energies  be  not  wasted  or  turned 
into  morbid  channels,  and  that  the  habit  be  fostered  in  the 
youth  of  doing  serious,  intense  work  in  the  pursuit  of  what 
appears  to  him  to  be  a  worthy  problem."* 

That  the  high  school  age  is  that  of  individual  choice,  has 
long  been  recognized.  First,  there  set  in  a  reaction  against 
the  prejudies  of  the  classicists  who  maintained  that  without 
an  exhaustive  study  of  the  ancient  languages,  or  the  so- 
called  humanistic  course  in  general,  no  higher  education 
was  possible,  and  this  reaction  has  assumed  enormous  propor- 
tions. While  the  humanistic  studies  still  hold  their  own  to  a 
certain  extent,  the  educational  value  of  the  so-called  realistic 
studies  has  become  more  and  more  admitted.  Science,  and  even 
technical  instruction,  are  gaining  ground  steadily  and  in- 
creasingly. "English,  the  modem  languages,  history,  and 
the  sciences,"  said  Pres.  Elliot,  "can  be  made  in  secondary 
schools  the  vehicle  of  just  as  substantial  training  for  the  hu- 


*A.    C.    Ellis,   "Suggestions   for  a   Philosophy  of  Elducation," 
Ped.  Sem.,  V,  2. 


324      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

man  mind  as  Latin,  Greek  and  mathematics." 

The  desire  to  restore  to  the  individual  of  high  school  age 
the  right  of  individual  choice,  has  given  us  the  struggle  over 
a  system  of  "electives."  In  some  high  schools,  there  are  ex- 
clusively elective  courses,  offered  under  different  names,  each 
separate  course  being  somewhat  meagre,  it  is  true,  and  each 
furnishing  a  somewhat  different  combination  of  instructional 
elements.  The  recognition  of  the  fact  that  none  of  these  sep- 
arate courses  may  just  meet  the  requirements  of  particular 
students  has  led  to  the  further  provision  that  each  student 
may,  under  certain  conditions,  elect  his  studies  to  suit  him- 
self. In  some  instances,  this  arrangement  has  produced  al- 
most an  instructional  anarchy. 

An  elective  anarchy  would  be  preposterous.  It  has  been 
shown  that  under  such  a  system  a  boy  or  girl  may  go  up  to 
college,  or  graduate  from  high  school,  without  ever  having 
had  a  decent  training  in  history.  Yet,  history  is  a  subject  of 
which  every  truly  educated  person  ought  to  have  more  than  a 
smattering.  It  is  at  the  foundation  of  intelligent  citizenship. 
There  are  certain  studies  which  are,  at  least  in  a  measure, 
needful  for  everyone;  such  as  history,  language,  scieoce,  and 
mathematics.  To  eliminate  any  of  these  elements  from  the 
secondary  course  of  any  individual  would  mean  to  cripple  it 
sadly.  Art  inspiration,  literature,  and  manual  dexterity  be- 
long in  the  same  class. 

Again,  too  much  "electiveness"  would  make  re-adjustments 
on  the  part  of  the  maturing  student  very  difficult.  Yet,  such 
re-adjustments  are  characteristic  of  this  period  of  wondrously 
rapid  development.  The  individual  attitude  does  not  spring 
into  existence  full-grown  like  Minerva  from  the  head  of  Jup- 
iter. It  is  a  growth.  Few  boys  and  girls  of  15  are  quite  sure 
of  their  future  career ;  it  is  a  pity  if  they  are  forced  to  choose 
then.  They  require  more  opportunity  for  experience.  And 
then,  there  are  unexpected  changes,  sometimes  complete  re- 
versions of  feeling  and  aspiration.  For  these,  we  must  be 
prepared,  and  in  order  to  build  securely  for  the  future,  we 
must  lay  in  every  youth's  mind  a  broad  and  solid  founda- 
tion composed  of  those  things  which  are  indispensable  for 
culture,  be  it  directed  to  whatever  special  subject  it  may 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      325 

hereafter. 

Of  course,  we  may  even  at  the  outset  recognize  the  differ- 
ent types  of  mind  which  present  themselves  to  the  observant 
educator,  and  which  we  may  discover  as  early  as  in  the  ele- 
mentary school — always  remembering,  however,  that  the 
mind  of  the  child  of  this  age  is  not  fixed  and  stereotyped,  but 
still  plastic.  There  are  the  linguistic  type,  the  constructive 
type,  the  mathematical  type,  the  artistic  type,  the  scientific 
type,  among  others.  We  may  be  permitted  to  arrange  them 
all  in  two  great  groups: 

( 1 )  The  classical  type — the  abstract  mind ; 

(2)  The  modern  type — the  realistic  mind. 

All  such  classification  has  inherent  defects ;  but  much  might 
be  said  in  justification  of  this  way  of  grouping. 

But  so  much  seems  evident  that  high  school  differentiation 
should  not  consist  so  much  in  a  more  or  less  arbitrary  selec- 
tion of  subjects  as  in  an  opportunity  for  the  individual  atti- 
tude toward  the  subjects  to  assert  itself.  We  must  start  with 
the  pupil's  own  point  of  view,  and  from  this  lead  him  to  a 
recognition  of  the  proper  relations  and  proportions  of  all 
branches  of  human  knowledge  with  reference  to  his  indi- 
vidual needs.  But  before  a  special  subject  can  assume  the 
dimensions  of  a  world-view,  the  different  studies  and  occupa- 
tions must  have  been  explored  and  partly  assimilated  to  be 
at  last  organized  under  the  common  heading  of  the  individual 
aspiration  and  view-point. 

The  individual  attitude,  tho,  of  course,  based  upon  special 
aptitudes  and  experiences,  is  pre-eminently  an  emotional  atti- 
tude. 

"It  seems  to  be  a  universal  fact  that  intellect  grows  out 
of  emotion.  Feeling,  knowing,  willing,  is  the  order.  .  .  . 
Instead  of  the  regular  repression  now  almost  universally 
practiced  toward  what  many  may  be  pleased  to  call  a  craze  or 
fad,  these  should  be  encouraged.  The  boy  or  girl  should  be 
pushed  into  them,  and  the  glow  should  be  turned,  if  possible, 
to  a  white  heat.  .  .  .  The  well-poised  man  of  many 
sides,  who,  altho  a  specialist,  sees  the  value  and  bearing  of  all 
other  branches  of  knowledge  on  his  own  subject,  cannot  well 
result  from  anything  else.     To  repress  or  discourage  such 


326      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

tendencies  limits  our  horizon  at  once."* 

The  plan  the  author  has  in  mind  would  present  itself  in 
about  this  form:  with  some  exceptions  perhaps,  which  need 
not  here  be  specified,  the  course  of  study  should  contain  about 
the  same  subjects  for  all.  There  should  be  the  languages  and 
literature,  mathematics,  history  and  geography,  science,  man- 
ual and  art  work,  civics,  etc.  But  not  every  student  would 
approach  each  branch  from  exactly  the  same  point  of  view,  or 
do  precisely  the  same  work.  To  the  philological  mind,  the 
structure  of  the  languages,  the  style  and  mannerisms  of  an 
author,  the  historic  evolution  and  kinship  of  languages  and 
their  distribution  over  the  face  of  the  globe,  the  abstract 
phases  of  mathematical  reasoning,  would  appeal  most 
strongly,  while  science  work  would  assist  him  in  his  training 
in  scientific  methods  of  deduction.  Art  would  to  him  be  of 
interest  mainly  in  its  bearing  upon  the  style  and  mannerisms 
of  different  peoples,  while  manual  work  would  counterbal- 
ance his  tendency  to  soar  in  abstract  heights,  by  making  him 
conscious  of  the  concrete  conditions  of  life  on  the  earth  which 
is  after  all  the  habitation  of  those  speech-endowed*^eoples, 
and  the  source  of  all  those  concepts  the  mode  of  expression  of 
which  is  so  fascinating  to  him. 

The  commercially  inclined  will  seek  facility  in  operating 
quantities  thru  their  mathematical  study.  They  will  familiar- 
ize themselves  with  the  great  staples  and  products  of  different 
countries  and  with  scientific  methods  of  manufacture,  by  way 
of  botany,  zoology,  mineralogy,  chemistry,  physics,  and 
geography.  The  manual  occupations  will  be  found  extremely 
valuable  as  illustrative  of,  and  instructive  in,  industrial  civil- 
ization, technical  progress,  and  the  means  of  transportation. 
The  historical  evolution  of  mankind  will  present  itself  to 
their  minds  under  the  aspect  of  a  gradual  development 
toward  intercourse,  exchange,  and  commerce.  The  lan- 
guages, modern  rather  than  ancient,  will  be  of  importance  to 
them  as  vehicles  of  intercommunication.  They  will  study  art 
from  the  industrial  side,  in  its  application  upon  the  mechanical 


*E.    G     Lancaster,    "Psychology    and    Pedagogy    of    Adoles- 
cence." 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      327 

arts,  and  the  perfection  of  designs  for  textile  and  other  deco- 
rative trades.  They  will  need  a  training  in  the  proper  and 
rapid  reading  of  technical  and  scientific  literature,  books  of 
travel  and  exploration,  as  well  as  on  the  character  and  idio- 
syncrasies of  the  peoples  with  whom  they  expect  to  traffic. 
Even  civics  will  have  a  differentiated  meaning  to  them,  as  it 
will  represent  the  idea  of  law  and  order,  of  equity  and  mu- 
tuality, as  the  only  sure  basis  upon  which  to  build  a  safe 
commercial  structure  and  international  intercourse. 

Again,  the  artistic  mind  will  assimilate  all  those  things 
most  readily  which  appeal  to  his  sense  of  beauty.  History 
and  literature  are,  to  him,  the  history  of  ideals  and  of  meth- 
ods in  art,  expressive  of  the  genius  of  the  nation  which  pro- 
duced them.  The  earth  presents  to  him  a  variegated  aspect 
of  impressive  scenery,  the  characteristic  setting  of  the  great 
events  of  history  which  arouse  his  emotional  interest  and  in- 
spire his  representative  imagination.  Science  opens  up  to  him 
a  stupendous  empire  of  beautiful  forms;  even  anatomy  and 
physiology  serve  him  only  to  appreciate  the  true  and  har- 
monious proportions  of  the  human  form.  The  artist  under- 
stands thus  how  function  and  form  are  intimately  related. 
Language,  to  him,  is  also  a  matter  of  artistic  handling — he 
cares  for  its  poetry,  beauty  of  sound,  style,  and  grace  of  ex- 
pression. Mathematics  appeals  to  him  as  the  science  of  pro- 
portion and  symmetry,  and  thru  the  manual  occupations,  he 
acquires  skill  and  trueness  of  hand  and  eye.  Likewise,  the 
scientific  mind,  the  constructive  mind,  or  whatever  you  please, 
will  approach  these  self-same  subjects  which  are  truly  needful 
for  all,  each  from  his  own  individual  point  of  view. 

There  are,  in  every  true  high  school  course,  elements  of 
general  culture  which  cannot  be  readily  disposed  of  as  sub- 
servient to  special  needs  and  ends.  Thus,  the  inspiration  of 
human  idealism  as  afforded  by  literature  and  art,  and  the 
development  of  a  just  estimation  of  civic  duties  which  every- 
one needs  as  the  future  citizen  of  a  democratic  republic,  must 
not  be  made  light  of  in  secondary  education. 

It  will  be  seen  that  a  scheme  like  this  would  make  the 
transition  from  one  course  to  another  easy  enough,  as  soon  as 
the  student's  attitude  of  mind  should  change.    For  the  sub- 


328       THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

ject  matter  in  all  courses  would  be  essentially  alike,  so  that 
there  would  be  no  gaps  to  speak  of.  In  fact,  a  change  would 
hardly  be  called  a  transition  from  one  course  to  another  in- 
asmuch as  the  change  of  attitude  would  work  its  own  ad- 
justment. 

This  plan  would  also  afford  the  most  natural  basis  for  cor- 
relation. "Correlation",  says  Arnold  Tompkins,  "in  its 
deeper  and  truer  sense,  is  nothing  more  than  the  organic  life 
of  the  subject  in  its  construction  by  the  student  in  the  pro- 
cess of  realizing  some  life  purpose.  The  objective  world  is 
fluid  to  the  purposes  of  life  and  thought;  and  ...  the 
external  world  shaped  to  one  purpose  constitutes  one  subject, 
and  shaped  to  another,  another,  etc.  To  correlate  truly  is 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  to  organize  a  subject." 

It  may  be  asked  whether  secondary  differentiation  as  the 
author  understands  it  would  require  the  establishment  of  sep- 
arate high  schools  that  would  correspond  to  these  different 
individual  attitudes.  It  will  be  seen  later  that  for  ^eciali- 
zation  on  the  high  school  level,  separate  schools' may  com- 
mend themselves;  but  where  secondary  education  is  con- 
sidered an  intermediate  step  toward  higher  culture,  sepa- 
ration would  seem  inadvisable. 

Even  when  there  are  pronounced  promptings  in  this  or 
that  direction  the  wisest  course  would  be  not  to  allow  the 
student  to  devote  himself  to  special  studies  too  exclusively 
at  this  stage,  to  the  exclusion  of  general  culture,  notwith- 
standing what  has  been  said  before.  Crazes  and  fads  should 
be  temporary. 

It  is  especially  the  plasticity  and  immaturity  of  the  adoles- 
cent mind,  its  frequent  conversions  and  sudden  transforma- 
tions which  should  make  us  cautious. 

Indeed,  it  would  be  equally  unwise  to  force  a  young  man 
or  girl  of  this  age  into  studies  which  are  distasteful  to  him  or 
her.  There  must  be  discreet  acquiescence,  at  least  temporar- 
ily, and  tactful  guidance,  and  above  all:  patience.  While 
special  provisions  may  be  made  for  such  particular  cases, 
there  may  not  even  be  any  need  of  special  courses.  We  may 
group  the  students  as  to  age,  maturity,  and  companionship, 
and  in  other  ways  which  would  present  themselves  to  the 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      329 

executive  wisdom  of  the  principal  of  the  school,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  convenient  handling.  But  otherwise,  we  may  teach 
the  same  subjects  to  the  different  types  of  mind  in  the  same 
class  as  long  as  the  teacher  knows  how  to  individualize  so 
as  to  bring  out  each  student's  best  effort,  and  to  make  each 
one  a  factor  in  the  development  of  those  broad  elements  of 
culture  which  are  indispensable  to  all.  Each  student  will 
then  be  allowed  to  do  the  work  in  the  way  he  likes  best, 
and  can  do  best,  and  he  will  contribute  to  the  common  lesson 
what  interests  him  most  from  his  point  of  view.  This  very 
co-operation  of  all  will  prevent  anyone's  becoming  too  nar- 
row or  superficial,  and  there  will  be  wholesome  competition 
mingled  with  the  spirit  of  mutual  respect  and  appreciation 
of  the  different  individual  standpoints  and  talents — a  very 
valuable  gain  on  the  ethical  side,  to  be  sure. 

Respect  for  the  individual  attitude  implies,  of  course,  a 
valuing  of  results  from  the  individual  standpoint.  There 
must  be  a  certain  elasticity  in  the  requirements  for  examina- 
tions and  graduation. 

One  other  point  demands  attention.  Of  all  the  differen- 
tiations taking  place  at  this  stage,  the  sexual  differentiation 
is  the  most  marked  and  momentous.  There  is  not  only  a 
change  taking  place  in  maturity  and  aptitude,  but  essentially 
in  emotional  attitude.  The  girl  of  15  is  much  more  different 
from  the  boy  of  15,  than  is  a  girl  of  12  from  the  boy  of  12, 
or  the  boy  of  15  from  the  boy  of  12.  Should  not  this  dif- 
ferentiation be  recognized  in  high  school  work? 

The  justifiable  tendency  to  give  woman  as  perfect  an  edu- 
cation as  man  has  enjoyed  thru  ages  of  woman's  disfran- 
chisement, has  induced  us  to  treat  girls  as  if  they  were  boys, 
to  urge  them  thru  the  same  instructional  grist  mill  which 
grinds  out  our  male  citizens.  In  many  instances  the  effect 
has  been  that  boys  were  treated  as  if  they  were  girls ;  in  other 
words,  in  the  effort  to  fit  the  course  to  an  average  non-sex- 
ual standard,  the  best  interests  of  the  boys  were  sacrificed, 
and  there  happened  what  the  author  called  elsewhere  a 
"femalization  of  public  school  education."  At  any  rate, 
there  has  been  a  great  disregard  everywhere  of  the  special 
needs  of  the  two  sexes.    I  do  not  by  any  means  plead  for  a 


330      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

complete  separation  of  the  sexes  in  school,  for  co-education 
has  many  advantages  and  is  the  natural  condition;  neither 
do  I  wish  to  recommend  a  curtailment  of  the  girls'  oppor- 
tunities. But  the  girls  of  high  school  age  need  such  train- 
ing as  is  best  suited  to  their  particular  wants,  and  which 
would  correspond  to  their  special  functions  and  sphere  of 
activity  without  barring  out  the  possibility  of  special  pro- 
fessional training. 

To  the  author's  mind,  a  girls*  course  which  would  appeal 
to,  and  educate,  the  female  instincts,  should  lay  special 
stress  first  of  all  upon  a  proper  training  of  the  emotions, 
thru  literature  and  history.  Thru  literature,  the  girl  will 
be  introduced  to  character  study  which  is  the  best  foundation 
for  psychologic  insight.  With  woman,  this  insight  will  re- 
main largely  intuitive,  and  literature  is  the  best  means  to 
cultivate,  deepen,  and  mature  this  intuitive  power.  History 
will  mediate  to  the  girl  the  ideals  of  civilization  such  as  have 
found  expression  not  only  in  the  large  life  of  communities 
and  nations,  but  in  the  family  circle  whose  inspiration  was 
basic  in  all  civilizatory  efforts  and  Mlevelopments.  It  is 
woman's  share  and  function  to  inspire  man  to  action,  and 
this  function  is  expressed  largely  thru  the  medium  of  those 
emotional  ties  which  create  the  home.  Woman  is  the  home- 
maker,  and  the  arts  of  home-making  should  stand  foremost 
in  the  girl's  course  as  it  commends  itself  to  me.  A  beauti- 
ful, bright  home  is  a  wonderful  thing,  and  the  cultivation  of 
beauty  thru  art  is  one  of  the  methods  of  acquiring  the  skill 
to  create  one.  But  there  must  be  more  substantial  verities 
to  enter  into  this  precious  fabric  to  make  it  real  and  durable. 
A  home  cannot  thrive  on  sunlight  and  moonshine  only.  The 
hard  facts  of  daily  life  must  be  mastered,  and  the  battle  with 
those  little  things  that  compose  human  existence  must  be 
waged.  Domestic  science,  sewing,  and  the  knack  of  house- 
keeping are  indispensable  factors  in  the  training  of  the  young 
girl.  And  she  should  study  mathematics,  too,  as  a  counter- 
weight to  overstrained  romantic  tendencies  perhaps — or  rath- 
er to  train  her  in  logical  thinking  or,  if  you  please,  in  order 
to  enable  her  to  keep  the  household  accounts  straight. 

Mrs.  Mary  Wright  Sewall,  as  president  of  the  Interna- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      331 

tional  Council  of  Women,  Indianapolis,  in  a  s)rmposium  in  the 
October,  1899,  "Chatauquan",  said  with  regard  to  the  ed- 
ucation of  her  own  sex: 

"In  fundamentals,  I  would  not  differentiate  the  education 
of  woman  from  that  of  man  at  all.  I  think  what  is  good  for 
man  is  good  for  the  development  of  the  same  fiber  in  the  other. 
In  advanced  education  I  would  differentiate  woman,  educa- 
tion from  that  of  man  by  giving  her  more  of  history  and  phil- 
osophy. I  would  give  her  more  history  because  she  will  get 
less  of  the  value  of  history  thru  her  contact  with  life  than 
man  will  thru  his.  I  would  give  her  more  philosophy  for 
three  reasons:  First,  her  habits  of  life  will  probably  give 
her  more  time  in  loneliness,  which  to  the  untrained  mind  is 
almost  certain  to  induce  a  habit  of  day-dreaming  and  mental 
idling.  Second,  the  habit  of  mind  induced  by  philosophical 
study  results  in  larger  patience  and  surer  fortitude,  quali- 
ties which  woman  particularly  needs.  Third,  as  her  life  is 
likely  to  be  given  to  details,  and  to  the  details  of  relatively 
small  matters,  she  needs  the  horizon  and  inspiration  derived 
from  considering  large  general  questions  such  as  those  which 
are  the  subject  of  philosophy.  Practically,  I  would  dif- 
ferentiate her  education  by  giving  her  more  natural  science, 
that  her  more  limited  contact  with  human  life  may  be  sup- 
plied by  quick  perception  of  the  relationships  and  resources 
of  nature." 

One  caution  must  be  added  with  regard  to  our  endeavors 
to  give  our  girls  the  best  possible  education.  Their  organ- 
ism is  much  more  delicate  than  the  boys' ;  and  espedally  dur- 
ing the  adolescent  period  the  girl  needs  much  care,  and  dis- 
creet attention.    This  warning  is  given  by  H.  S.  Curtis:* 

"Woman  has  such  severe  drains  upon  her  energy  .  .  . 
that  in  physical  and  intellectual  achievements  she  has  ever 
been  the  inferior  of  man.  She  may  not  be  inferior  in  capacity, 
but  she  is  in  ability  to  endure  protracted  labors.  The  effect 
of  excessive  brain  activity  is  most  disastrous  of  all.  .  .  . 
Mitchell,  after  commenting  on  the  sad  state  of  health  of  the 
American  girl,  lays  the  blame  to  the  schools.     He  says:  'I 


*"Ii  hibition,"  Ped.  Sem.,  VI,  i. 


332      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

finnly  believe,  and  I  am  not  alone  in  this  opinion,  that  as 
concerns  the  physical  future  of  women,  they  would  do  far 
better  if  the  brain  were  very  lightly  tasked,  and  the  school 
hours  but  three  or  four  a  day  until  they  reach  the  age  of  17 
at  least.'  " 

Every  young  woman,  however,  should  be  a  graduate  in 
housekeeping,  as  it  were.  Norwegian  girls  must  be  educated 
in  household  duties  and  render  proof  thereof  before  they  are 
allowed  to  marry.  Taking  a  suggestion  from  Helene  Lange, 
E.  A.  Fabarius  proposes  in  "Die  allgemeine  Dienstpflicht"  to 
require  by  law  of  every  normal  girl  of  18  years  of  age,  three 
years'  service  in  housework,  nursing,  sewing,  etc.,  correspond- 
ing to  the  obligatory  army  service  of  the  men.* 

Woman's  work  were  not  complete  did  it  not  include  ma- 
ternal functions.  Truly,  motherhood  is  the  crowning  glory 
of  woman's  life,  and  if  she  has  no  children  of  her  own,  she  will 
bestow  that  tenderness  and  educational  intuition  which  are 
inherent  in  her  nature,  up6n  other  women's  children,  as  nurse, 
or  governess,  or  teacher,  or  friend.  But  intelligent  mother- 
hood does  not  come  by  instinct  alone.  There  is  need  of  care- 
ful training  also  in  this  direction.  Every  high  school  course, 
at  least,  for  girls  should  include  some  sort  of  pedagogic  prep- 
aration, some  instruction  in  the  handling  of  children,  a  kind 
of  kindergarten  course  of  a  more  general  character,  perhaps, 
leaving  out  the  specially  professional  exercises.  The  girls 
should  be  given  abundance  of  opportunity  to  assume  responsi- 
bilities in  taking  care  of  younger  children,  at  recess,  on  excur- 
sions, and  the  like.  Similar  provisions,  by  the  way,  should  be 
made  for  boys — intelligent  fatherhood  is  about  as  rare  as  in- 
telligent motherhood. 

Mental  overstrain  is  apt  to  work  much  mischief  at  this 
period,  as  we  have  seen.  This  should  not  be  so  construed  as 
to  mean  that  there  be  only  perfunctory  work  done,  in  a 
dawdling,  frolicsome  sort  of  way.  Not  at  all.  This  is  also 
the  time  for  concentration  of  attention,  and  many  suffer, 
not  from  overstrain,  but  from  lack  of  concentrated  effort 
in  regular  intervals.    There  must  be  intense  work  done  by 


♦"Notes  abroad,"  Ped.  Sem.,  VI,  i. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      333 

both  boys  and  girls,  at  the  proper  periods  and  in  due 
proportion.  But  this  strain  should  not  be  prolonged  un- 
duly, and  must  be  supplemented  by  physical  exercises, 
sports,  and  gymnastics,  so  as  to  develop  their  youthful  bodies 
to  their  full  strength  and  to  supple  springiness,  that  they  may 
be  the  ready  tools  of  elastic,  energetic  minds. 

In  what  manner,  then,  does  a  real  high  school  distinguish 
itself  from  a  special  school,  a  trade  school,  a  technical  school, 
a  commercial  school  of  like  grade? 

We  may  perhaps  express  the  difference  between  the  two 
classes  of  secondary  schools  in  this  wise:  a  high  school  is  an 
institution  for  the  imparting  of  higher  culture,  commensurate 
to  the  individual  mental  attitude  of  adolescent  students,  and 
affords  a  training  preparatory  to  further  specialization  on  a 
higher  level.  The  special  high  school,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  an  institution  for  the  finishing  of  a  life  preparation  along 
specially  defined  aptitudes; — it  affords  opportunity  for 
elementary  differentiation.  It  is  for  those  who  are  either 
incapable  of  higher  culture,  or  whose  life  aim  to  on  the  plane 
of  rapid  adaptation  to  "practical"  pursuits;  or  who  are  pre- 
vented by  some  cause  from  attaining  to  the  realization  of  the 
best  that  is  in  them. 

Much  discussion  has  arisen  of  late  as  to  whether  in  the 
high  school  a  difference  should  be  made  in  the  training  of 
those  pupils  who  expect  to  go  to  college,  and  those  who  do 
not.  While  the  reader  may  be  reminded  of  what  has  been 
said  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  as  to  the  folly  of  retro- 
active courses  of  study,  and  as  to  each  stage  of  a  child's  devel- 
opment demanding  a  treatment  responding  to  the  natural 
wants  of  this  period,  some  other  consideration  may  be  allowed 
to  enter  into  the  discussion.  A  "preparatory"  pupil,  that  is 
to  say,  one  who  expects  to  prepare  himself  in  the  high  school 
for  a  college  course,  will  study  languages,  modem  and  an- 
cient, with  a  view  of  using  them  as  tools  in  his  college  work, 
for  gaining  culture  thru  the  study  of  literature,  science,  and 
philosophy.  The  "non -preparatory"  pupil,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  one  whose  career  will  probably  end  with  the  high  school 
course,  should  approach  these  same  languages  in  a  diiferent 
way.    He  must  be  inspired  by  the  humanistic  side  of  language 


334      THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD 

study  now,  as  there  will  be  no  later  opportunity.  Out  of  his 
language  work  he  must  derive  the  literary,  artistic  and  ethical 
influences  which  the  preparatory  pupil  will  enjoy  later  on, 
on  the  college  level.  The  non-preparatory  high  school  pupil 
will  have  to  sacrifice  some  of  the  drill  in  correctness  and  fa- 
cility so  as  to  have  the  full  benefit  of  the  culture  value  of 
language  study  at  this  stage.  This  view  of  the  two  currents 
of  educational  effort  which  are  supposed  to  run  side  by  side 
in  the  work  of  the  high  school,  involves  indeed  an  interest- 
ing aspect  of  the  problem. 

It  may  perhaps  be  claimed,  with  some  degree  of  justice, 
that  the  distinction  between  preparatory  and  non-preparatory 
pupils  refers  rather  to  the  differentiation  between  high  schools 
proper  and  the  secondary  special  schools  of  which  mention 
has  been  made.  And  it  would  surely  be  unwise  to  emphasize 
the  difference  between  these  two  classes  of  students  so 
strongly  that  readjustments  to  changing  attitudes  and  as- 
pirations were  futilized.  Whenever  a  prospective  preparatory 
pupil,  having  been  confined  to  narrower  limits,  should  find 
that  he  cannot,  or  cares  not  to,  go  to  college,  his  high  school 
education  will  have  largely  failed  of  its  purpose.  Prof.  Dewey 
says  of  the  function  of  the  high  school : 

"It  must  on  the  one  hand  serve  as  a  connecting  link  be- 
tween the  lower  grades  and  the  college,  and  it  must,  upon  the 
other,  serve  as  a  final  stage,  as  itself  the  people's  college,  to 
those  who  do  not  intend  to  go,  or  who  do  not  go  to  college." 

It  seems  that  a  student  who  has  received  a  good  all-around 
high  school  education,  will  prove  to  be  the  best  possible  ma- 
terial for  college. 

Broadly  speaking,  the  high  school  stands  for  the  adolescent 
part  of  what  has  been  called  a  liberal  education.  The  follow- 
ing inspiriting  paragraph  from  an  editorial  in  Appleton's  Pop- 
ular Science  Monthly,  of  January,  I9(X>,  will  fitly  close  this 
argument : 

"A  liberal  education,  let  it  be  thoroly  understood,  is  not 
one  which  delivers  over  an  individual  to  the  dominant  influ- 
ences of  his  place  and  time,  whatever  they  may  be,  but  one 
which  enables  him  to  react,  when  necessary,  against  such  in- 
fluences under  die  guidance  of  wider  views  and  deeper  prin- 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD      335 

ciples.  It  is  an  illiberal  education,  let  it  embrace  what  it  may, 
which  simply  equips  a  man  for  exploiting  for  his  own  benefit 
the  conditions  and  tendencies  which  he  finds  prevailing  in 
the  society  around  him ;  and  too  much  of  what  passes  for  lib- 
eral education  has,  we  fear,  had  no  better  result.  .  .  . 
Let  our  colleges  and  universities  see  to  it  that  they  under- 
stand 'a  liberal  education'  in  the  right  sense." 


UJIV    O  JINIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

MAY   8       1964  LosAngeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


SUBJECT  TO  f!^ 


ir  t.-fVT 


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Form  L9-116m-8,'62(D123788)444 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGKDNAl  UBRAflY  FAOUTY 


A    000  970  052    7 


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UCLA-EO/PSYCH  Ubrary 

LB102SG91 

rfrnornTii" 

L  005  602  093  6 


EDUCATION 
LIBRARY 

LB 
1025 

G91 


llOS  nWQSlsES.  CSli. 


